I Only Want To Be With You
by avatard-girl
Summary: Aang goes with Zuko around the Nations. He didn't get things settled with Katara yet. Will she be brave enough to tell him her feelings when he comes back? WHAT? Aang might not be the last airbender? BEWARE! Rated MATURE for sexual content!
1. It Had Been 6 Months Now

***So here it is, my first fan fiction. I absolutely in love with the TV series! So here's my "mature" take on what happens after the TV show has ended. I hope you enjoy it. I will upload chapters as much as I can so be patient.***

It had been over 6 months now since he left. The war was finally over and the world was beginning to see peace. Zuko was crowned Firelord of the Fire Nation and Aang was known to all as the savior of the world. The two of them had left just a few months after the war had ended to make their appearances around the other countries and spread the peace. Katara had stayed behind with Sokka and their father, along with other friends, to keep rebels in check and to fix and rebuild the Western Air Temple. Katara never had the chance to share with Aang her feelings, and she wasn't sure how to. Just a little while after Zuko's coronation, the group flew to Ba Sing Se to follow up on the events that were happening there, and to celebrate with Iroh when he got his tea shop back. Katara surprised not just Aang but herself as well when she took the initiative and kissed Aang. No words were spoken; they just held each other until they were interrupted by Toph, who later informed Aang and Katara that she was doing them a favor by stopping them so that Sokka didn't see them first. And that night, Zuko announced the pending departure of him and Aang to go around to the other nations. Katara was assured that it wouldn't be more than a month or so, but it had been more than 6 months now. Katara was battling with her feelings and didn't know how to collect her feelings and lay them out when she finally saw Aang again, whenever that would be. She thought a lot about what had happened over the past couple of years since she met him and she was overwhelmed with different kinds of feelings as she reminisced. She thought back to the time when she had first met him, how she had this feeling of bonding with him right away. Even so shortly after they met, when he was being taken away by Zuko from her village, she felt emptiness, like part of her was taken from her. She also thought back to the time when they were in the Cave of Two Lovers. She felt something spark between them that was perhaps more than friendship, but along with it came doubt. Aang didn't react to her suggestion of kissing in a way that was appealing, so she thought he didn't have those sort of feelings for her. And then there was the time she almost lost him for good. She shuddered at the memory of Aang fighting Azula at Ba Sing Se. She didn't like to think on that part so much…

Then the memory of Aang kissing her on the day of black sun... Confusion was her first feeling, right after the skipping of her heart beat. Even now, her feelings were in a complete mess and she wasn't sure what to do. Whenever she thought she would try to sort them out, she would just get distracted simply by the memory of their kiss in Ba Sing Se right after the end of the war. She felt butterflies in her stomach each time and a tingling though out her body.

Katara was actually in the middle of one of those lost in thought moments when she was startled by Sokka.

"Katara! What are you doing out here?" Sokka asked his sister, who was leaning over the rail of the balcony outside her room. "Didn't you hear us calling you?"

"Ah, sorry Sokka, guess I didn't" Katara looked up at him like there wasn't a single thing bothering her. "  
So, what's up?"

"Zuko's ships were spotted up at the northern lookout. They'll be here in just a couple of hours!" Sokka explained excitedly "We're gonna go down and meet them at the dock. Get ready cause we're leaving in just a few minutes."

Katara just stared at him slightly wide eyes. It took her a moment to register what he had just said.

Aang was back. Since Katara had met Aang, she hadn't spent more than a couple of days without him. Once was when he met with the Guru and the other was during the battle that ended the war. It had been 6 months since she saw him and he was only a couple of hours away. Her excitement was unbearable. She was about to express that excitement, but then she suddenly felt fear and she backed away. She hadn't prepared herself for this yet. She was still confused about her mixed feelings. She wanted to see him so bad, but what would she say to him?

"No, I think I'll stay here. I'm not feeling too well"

Sokka looked at her strangely. "Uh…. Ok…" He rolled his eyes "Whatever you say, I thought for sure you would miss him or something"

"I do, I'm just not feeling well, ok?" Katara replied with frustration"

"Ok ok! Sheesh. Well I hope you feel better soon, we're having a celebration feast tonight!" Sokka said with a huge grin on his face.

After Sokka left, Katara sighed and looked back out at the garden below from her balcony. Why am I so afraid to see him all of a sudden after I've so badly wanted to see him over the past 6 months, she wondered. She suddenly felt anxious again. Didn't matter whether or not she was ready to see him, because she was going to see him soon either way. But everyone else would be there too, so it would be easier for her to act natural.

Aang was so excited that he couldn't sit still. At one point, he grabbed his glider and was about to fly off, but Zuko stopped him.

"Aang, don't worry, we will be there soon. You'll get to see Katara soon enough" Zuko said as he took Aang's glider from him.

"Yeah I know, I'm just so excited! I can't wait to see her… err um I mean them."

Zuko laughed at him "Yeah yeah, I know you're only excited about seeing Katara." Aang blushed in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head while giving his Fire Lord friend a goofy smile.

It seemed like it took an eternity for the ship to finally get to the dock and Aang was at the front of the line to get off. As he and Zuko made their way off the ship, Aang spotted his friends flailing their arms around to get his attention and he smiled. But his smile slowly went away when he noticed Katara wasn't with them.

"Aang buddy! I've missed you!" Sokka shouted as he threw his arms around the Avatar.

"Sokka!" Aang hugged back, but he pulled away almost instantly. "Where's Katara?"

"Nice to see you too Twinkle Toes!" Toph said sarcastically"

"Oh sorry, Toph. I just noticed that she wasn't here and I… well, wanted everyone to be here…"

Sokka snorted "She said she wasn't feeling well or something so she didn't want to come."

Aang suddenly felt his stomach knot up. What was wrong with Katara? His first thought wasn't that she was physically sick or not feeling well, but that she didn't want to see him for some reason. He had to be away from her for 6 months and now he could finally see her and she wasn't here.

Aang took his glider out and spread out the wings. "I'll meet you guys back at the palace" And before anyone could say anything or stop him, he took off.

Katara stood there staring blankly out at the garden in the palace's side court yard. She couldn't think, she didn't even bother trying. She just stood there and let the wind flow through her long wavy hair. She wore it down when she wasn't off doing errands or doing repairs at the temple or cities. She was starting to like leaving her hair down. Especially since she noticed that she turned more heads when her hair was down. She wondered if Aang liked her hair better when it was down. And there it was again, the memory of their last kiss. She remembered his hands holding her and sweeping through her hair. The softness of his lips against hers was almost completely lost to her now, it had been 6 months ago since she felt them. Even though she thought of that memory almost every day since it happened, she was beginning to forget the feel of his lips. Her eyes started to water and she closed her eyes. It's the wind blowing in my eyes that's making them water, she told herself.

"Katara!"

Her eyes shot opened to the sound of her name coming from the very voice she missed so much from behind her. She didn't hear him come in. When did she become so spacey, she wondered. But that thought didn't linger in her mind long, she was more focused on gathering her courage to turn around and look at him.

Aang noticed her jump when he said her name "Are you ok? Sokka said you didn't come because you weren't feeling well. So I was… um, a bit worried for you, so… so I flew up here ahead of everyone on my glider to see if you were ok." He lied a little.

"I'm ok actually, just tired from all the work we've been doing" she replied. She finally started to turn and face him and at the same time he was walking up closer to her. She put on her best "I'm perfectly fine" smile and then met his eyes. Her smile vanished and her smiling face was replaced with a shocked one. It wasn't that he looked any different, but it was that she was actually looking _up_ into his gray eyes that she wanted to see for so many months. He now stood just a little taller than her and his muscles seemed to be a bit larger. He was still a bit thin, just more filled out with muscles now, and his face was less round and more defined. But he was still the same Aang that she remembered, the same 13 year old boy… no wait! He was 14 now! And now almost 15, right before she turned 16.

She continued to stare into his eyes just a little longer, and he smiled at her. "Katara, I've missed you so much, you have no idea…"

She blushed and averted her eyes. It took her a moment, but she finally said "Yeah, I do have an idea… cause I really missed you too."

Aang, now only standing just a few inches away from her, reached out and took her hand. She shivered slightly at his touch, as if she expected his fingers to burn her flesh.

"Katara…" He said in a soft voice, "What's wrong? Why are you acting so strange?"

"I don't know" She said. "I'm not sure what it is I'm feeling right now. I'm confused…"

"What!" Aang asked shocked, taking her other hand and now holding both her hands. "You're still confused? Even after everything that happened. Even after… "He paused for a short moment, and his voice soften"… our last kiss?"

"No… I mean, yes… uh, geez I don't know" She squeezed her eyes shut as she fought back tears. "This feels different somehow. Like," She paused for a moment, trying to think. "I'm so overwhelmed and I'm scared."

"Katara, what is it? What are you afraid of?" Aang held her hands tighter, then loosened his grip slightly, afraid he would hurt her hands. "Please, talk to me. Talk it out. Please Katara, I don't want you to push me away again. I don't think I could handle it…again…" He started fighting back his own tears. He brought her hands up higher and leaned them on his chest as he stared down at her. "I don't want to push you away, or scare you away, but Katara… I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you…"

The closer they got, the more she felt like she was shivering. It wasn't that she didn't want to be that close to him, it just made her nervous. She steadied herself. "It's not what you think, Aang. Actually, I don't know what I'd do if I suddenly didn't have you anymore either... Or if I lost you." Her voice was trembling." But… I did lose you." She felt her eyes water more, so she paused for a moment to calm down, then continued. "I did lose you, when you fell in Ba Sing Se from Azula's lightning. You were gone, and I felt like a part of me was torn away. It was such a scary feeling." Her breathing hitched.

"Katara… I'm here now though, because of you." Aang said.

"I know, it was because I was able to save you with the water from the Spirit Oasis. But even then, you still didn't wake up for a couple of weeks. I was so scared the whole time that you weren't ever going to wake up again. I had a constant fear of never seeing your eye open ever again. I stayed by your side constantly. I even slept in your room, just in case you woke up in the middle of the night. I wanted to be there the moment you were awake… But when you woke up, I wasn't there by your side. When I saw you on deck on the ship, I thought I was dreaming. I was so relieved you were ok… But you left. "Katara's voice suddenly got slightly deeper and more depressed. "You were angry and I tried so hard to stay by your side and help you, but you just took off. After all the pain I went through, thinking I lost you, and you suddenly left out of anger out into that dangerous storm."

There was anger in her voice, but at this point, Katara was crying. Aang let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her. He slowly let out a breath he had been holding in. He was on the verge of tears still, but not because he was sad or because he had been rejected (which was what he was afraid of). He couldn't help but feel relieved. So he dared the question that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Katara, are you in love with me?"

Her crying slowly stopped and she pulled away a little bit, still in his arms and her hands on his chest. She was afraid to look up at him, so she stared at the ground and let her mind go crazy at the realization of Aang's question.

He was no longer the little goofy kid she saved from the iceberg. Through their journey, they both went through so many different things together. Her love for him as a friend became deeper to the point that he was more like family to her. But when he had lost his life, she thought she would lose hers as well from the overpowering sadness of not having Aang with her anymore. Her memories returned her to the view she had of him, staring up at his back turned toward her, after he had fought off a volcano and saved the village where they had met the fortune teller. She remembered looking up at him with a realization then, realizing what it was the fortune teller Aunt Wu had told her, and it was coming back to her now. She couldn't live without him anymore. She looked up at him, her eyes still full of tears, and she saw love and hope in his eyes, pleading for her as tears started rolling down his cheeks.

"Yes"


	2. A Kiss And A Dance

The word barely escaped from her lips on her breath. Aang's eyes widened as his last tear fell over his cheek and he felt a big thump in his chest. Though full of love and passion, her eyes still showed fear. He felt shock, then a wave of relief and eagerness fell over him. He realized he was holding his breath again, and he let it go. He stared into her breath-taking eyes, then he leaned in and caught her lips with his. He pushed softly, desperate for her to be as close as possible to him. He wrapped his arms tighter around the middle of her back.

She broke away, breathing heavily. "Aang wait…"

"No"

She stared up at him, surprised at the bit of demand in his voice. He looked desperately at her, "I love you, Katara." Pain was showing in his face, "I love you so much that it feels like my chest is gonna explode." He brought his face close to hers again, almost touching her lips as he spoke again, "Please, don't pull away from me anymore. Please…"

He forced his lips over hers again. Katara was tense, but she slowly relaxed. She was taking in the feel of his lips on hers again, completely aware of every inch of his flesh that was in contact with hers. She suddenly felt overwhelmed with need of him. And she thought to herself again, I have no idea what I would ever do if I lost you, if I didn't have you in my life anymore.

She moved her hands from his chest to his shoulders, then to around his neck, bringing their bodies closer together. Aang started moving more into the kiss, slightly opening his mouth, working into a rhythm. Katara attempted to follow, and soon he moved his tongue out and brushed her bottom lip with it. It surprised her, and her eyes opened very slightly, as did his. They stopped for a moment, then brought their lips together again, with their mouths slightly opened. Aang slid his tongue over her bottom lip again, and she moved hers out to meet his. They hadn't kissed like this before, and the feeling of his tongue touching hers was surprising to her. But for some reason she couldn't explain, she actually enjoyed it. He moved his tongue into her mouth and she released a small moan against his mouth. Just that small sound, that small vibration against his lips, was exhilarating to him. He gently slid his tongue over hers, taking in her taste and loving it. She slid her tongue around his as well and their tongues danced with the rhythm of their kiss.

Thanks to Toph's extended earth bending teachings, Aang could feel their group of friends coming into the castle and they would soon be spotted. He reluctantly pulled away from her face, and he said softly, almost a whisper, "We're not really alone anymore… Everyone just got back."

Katara cheeks were flushed and her lips were plump from their kiss. She nodded, and he took her hand and led out of the courtyard, towards their friends.

After a couple of more hours, the feast was prepared and ready. Many people were at the banquet and Aang and Zuko were continuously surrounded by people. Mai was practically attached to Zuko at the arm the whole time because they both knew that there would be noble and wealthy men there that would try and sell off their daughters as brides to Zuko. But Zuko wasn't interested in any woman other than Mai, although he had yet to purpose to her. Katara, on the other hand, missed her chance to link onto Aang, and since Zuko wasn't available for bribes due to a female linked to his arm the whole time, they went for Aang instead. He was, after all, the most powerful bender in all four nations and he had just saved the world. Katara was a little saddened about the fact that she couldn't even get close to him. Sokka, of course, was at the buffet table again, piling his plate with yet another round of food. Suki was with him the whole time. Toph was off talking with Haru and some of the other earth benders of his village. Katara was alone, save for the fact that she was surrounded by boys she didn't know. They were around her age, or older. Some were dull and nerdy looking, some were tall and handsome, and they were all making attempts at saying things they thought would impress her.

Aang had noticed the crowd of boys around Katara and got anxious. While still being talked to by a couple of different men at once, something accured to Aang. Did anyone else in their close knit group of friends know about him and Katara? Well Zuko knew of course, he had spent 6 long months with him, traveling around, and they talked about many things. A major part of their male bonding was talking about the girls they were in love with. Zuko claimed to he knew all along that he had a crush on Katara, but was it obvious to the others as well? Maybe not, since no one was bothering to help him out of his irritating situation he was in, and he couldn't just brush off these supposedly important people to go chase off some boys for Katara.

Zuko did, however, notice a while ago that Aang was agitated, though Aang tried his best to hide it. He just knew Aang all too well. But he thought that Aang needed this. He needed to have these kinds of experiences, because he figured it was going to happen a lot more until he had actually settled down and got married. He decided to let it go on a little longer until he finally did something about it. And when he did, he approached the band and requested them to tone down the music to allow for ball room dancing.

Nearly everyone in the room noticed the change of beat, and people started to couple off onto the dance floor. Most of the gentlemen around Aang went off to find their wives or other ladies to dance with, which finally gave Aang a chance to excuse himself from the left over men that were probably more desperate for Aang to be in their family than they were please their own ladies and wives.

The boys around Katara stayed where they were, each making an attempt to talk Katara into a dance. She was blushing furiously, not knowing how to reject them. Aang made his way over there, but Sokka got there first.

"Ok, you dweebs, back off! I know Katara is the most eligible girl in the room, but I'm her brother, and you have to get permission through me to dance with Katara." He gave the group a stern look and a couple of the boys snickered under their hands.

"Thanks Sokka." Katara whispered to him.

"Hey, no problem." Sokka replied in a whisper, then a grin formed on his face. "I do love it when you owe me favors."

Katara rolled her eyes and laughed softly. "Whatever you say, Sokka."

"May I have this dance with your beautiful sister, good sir." Aang asked as he approached and then bowed.

Sokka's faced brightened and he grinned wide. He impersonated a gentleman manner as well and bowed. "Oh course you may, young lad!" Sokka took Katara's hand and handed it to Aang. Aang took her soft hand into his and Katara made a small and silent gasped and blushed at his tender touch. Sokka giggled at their little performance and went back to his food and Suki.

Aang led Katara onto the dance floor, his hand holding hers in a fashionable form. Katara was radiant tonight, he noticed. He saw her earlier when she first entered the room, wearing her beautiful sunset hued dress. There were no sleeves on her dress, it clung tightly to her chest, and just under her breasts was a couple of rows of pearly white beads that wrapped around her body. The rest of the dress flowed down to the floor in silky perfection, not clinging to her body, but still showed her beautiful curves as she moved. She took Aang's breath away. Her hair was down, though partly clipped back at the nap of her neck to let her beautiful face be shown without hair to interfere. He loved her hair down, and he told her so just as he found their place on the floor and stopped them both before they began to dance, and she smiled sweetly.

"I wish you would've saved me sooner." She whispered to him. "If I had to endure that any longer, I would have gone insane and waterbended them to the walls."

They both giggled. "Sorry, I was looking desperately for an excuse get away from those men, and Zuko _finally _decided to give me one."

They began their dance, a slow and simple waltz. He guided them along the floor, surprisingly doing well, despite the fact he had never danced with a girl before. He was embarrassed to admit that the only other person he did this dance with was Zuko, and it was to teach him how to dance of course for formal parties like this one. He had danced with Katara before, but not like this.

He smiled down at her, his eyes full of sweet love for the girl in his arms. She stared right back at him, and their dance started to become more than just simple. The way he guided her along the floor, the way he looked at her with such devotion. No words were said but everyone that stopped what they were doing to look at them could see it in their faces. They were in Heaven. Soft whispers started going around, and Sokka turned to look at the pair on the floor. His eyes widened as he could practically feel the love radiating from them to each other. Suki was smiling as she stared dreamily at them. Sokka noticed Suki's look, then looked back at Aang and Katara.

"Wow, it looks like their in love or something." Sokka said with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Suki laughed. "Sokka, you really hadn't noticed it yet? I noticed it a loooong time ago, before I even got together with you.

Sokka looked shocked. "How long has this been going on? Are they together? How come no one ever told me?"

"Sokka, everyone who isn't dense like you could tell. They never told anyone about it, but it was obvious anyways."

Sokka continued to watch the couple dancing, and it seemed as though their faces were getting closer together ever so slowly. But the music came to an end and everyone clapped. Aang and Katara snapped out of the trance they were both in and blushed. They bowed to each other, and Aang smiled. He stuck his arm out for Katara to link onto with hers "Shall we?" He asked.

She smiled and nodded, and took his arm. They went to the table their friends were at, but everyone was silent and just stared at them. Except for Toph, since she was blind and all.

"Why is everyone so quiet all of a sudden?" Toph asked irritably.

"Well, Toph, you obviously couldn't _see _the magic that was glistening in this room just a moment ago." Sokka said, frustrated.

"Well, no, but if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, then duh, I already know. I have feet. You know, the ones with eyes on them! I can feel their feelings for each other a mile away."

Aang and Katara both jumped at the same time as everyone turned their gaze to them in unison.

Before anyone could ask the questions that everyone else was thinking, Zuko took the attention of everyone in the room to make a speech.

"Thank you everyone for coming by tonight. It was a great party, and the food and company were wonderful. Let's all retire for the night, it is getting late."

As people were shuffling out of the room, Katara held onto Aang's hand as they made their way through the crowd. Everyone was leaving the castle, save for a few people who were guests there, and some of those people were Aang and the gang.

Aang walked Katara to her room and they paused at the door. He didn't let go of her hand though, he stood there silently, thinking about what he could say to her. She looked at him and smiled.

"Goodnight Aang." She said softly.

"Yeah…. Goodnight" He said just as softly. She leaned in, and he closed his eyes, ready to accept her kiss with his lips. But her lips didn't land on his, but instead on his cheek.

He opened his eyes and was about to protest, but then saw her beautiful glowing face looking at him, so he kept quiet and smiled back at her. She turned and slowly closed the door behind her.

When he got to his own room, he sighed loudly and plopped himself on his own bed. It had been a very long day. So much had happened. It was only this afternoon that he had returned with Zuko to the Fire Nation, to his friends…. to the love of his life. He replayed the memory of the intense kiss they shared that afternoon over and over in his head, remembering the taste of her and the feel of her tongue touching his for the first time, and his body tingled. He felt most of this tingling in his stomach, and he lowered his hand to there. Then slowly, his hand made its way under his pants. Pictures of Katara in her gorgeous gown that evening flowed into his mind. He could make out the wondrous curves of her body pressed gently against his as they danced, and he rubbed his hand over his growing erection. His breathing began to get heavier, and he breathed out the name of the woman who's hand he was imagining replacing his own under his pants.


	3. Maiya

*** I actually had this chapter ready when the first 2 went up, but I wanted to wait and see what kind of reviews I would get. But I don't wanna wait =p. Here's the 3rd chapter, and the 4th is ready, but I'm gonna hold off on putting it up for a couple of days. And yes, it's gonna get HOTTER! (not quite yet though, just wait...)***

Despite how late Aang had stayed awake the night before, he was the first one up, aside from Iroh, who was visiting for a little while. Iroh was making tea and he greeted Aang as he walked lazily into the small dining area for that portion of the palace. Zuko had it constructed specially for his friends when they visited so that they wouldn't have to use the giant main hall.

"Good morning, Aang. Would you like some tea?" Iroh asked in his usual jolly manner. "I'm about to make breakfast as well if you're hungry.

"Thanks Uncle Iroh." Aang said happily. Aang and the others had gotten used to calling him uncle.

As they sat down and drank their tea, Iroh broke the silence with a seemingly simple question. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Oh, I dunno." Aang began. "I'll probably wait for everyone to wake up, then go out shopping with Katara or something."

Iroh laughed. "Naw, I don't mean like today. What are your plans for your future? What are your plans for yourself?"

Aang stared at Iroh in surprise. He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it much. I figured I'd stay close to here, where I'm needed, and help bring about balance between the nations with Zuko." Aang also secretly thought to himself, I'd like to kind of stay close to Katara as well. Aang's cheeks lit up with a light pink tint and he looked down bashfully, but Iroh didn't notice.

Iroh sighed and sipped at his tea. His face became more grave, and he set his tea cup down and continued to hold the cup with both hands. He stared into his tea while he spoke. "You know, Aang, that you are your own person. You have to have something for yourself and not just plan your life around other peoples' lives. You know well enough that you are the last airbender too." Iroh looked up from his tea cup at Aang.

Aang stared at him, puzzled. "Yeah, I know."

"Don't you think that maybe you should…. You know, rebuild your race? Bring airbenders back into the world?"

"Uncle Iroh, I know I'm the avatar and all, but I can't revive the dead."

"I don't mean that. "Iroh chuckled. "Maybe instead of using the word 'rebuild'… maybe 'repopulate' is the more appropriate word. The only way an airbender can come into the world is from another airbender. From you." Iroh saw Aang's confusion get worse, and Iroh searched through his brain to come up with a better way to explain it. He sighed. "Avatar Aang, you will probably have to get married as soon as you can, and start making babies as soon as you can, because you will probably have to make lots of them."

Aang was sipping his tea when the words came all out of Iroh's mouth, and then out of Aang's mouth came all of his tea. Iroh continued.

"Since the woman you will be with isn't going to end up being an airbender, the chance of your children being airbenders is a lot less likely."

"Uncle Iroh, I'm only 14, I'm not even old enough to get married."

"You are almost 15, you are approaching that age fast. Well, I'm not saying that you _have _to do it this way or anything, it's just something to think about. You know... just in case you meet a girl sometime, or maybe you have already met one... "Iroh grinned, knowing well who Aang's interest layed with.

Aang looked at him with a worried expression, then lowered his eyes to his cup. He thought about Katara, thought about how she might feel about it. He had loved her for so long, but they only recently brought their feelings out into the open. Would she want to be his wife and have an air temple full of children with him? Iroh was right, only his own offspring had the possibility of becoming airbenders, and the world would be out of balance completely without any airbenders left. What would happen if Aang died and there were no more airbenders? How would the cycle of Avatars play out? If Aang had children, and none were airbenders, then the chance of his children's children being airbenders was even less likely. Aang's face became filled with anguish as he thought more about it and doing the math in his head.

Just then, Sokka walked in. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest and stared down at Aang with an agitated look on his face.

"Aang, we need to talk."

Aang got up and followed his friend out into the hall, where they would have a bit of privacy. Aang knew what was coming, and he wasn't prepared for it. Sokka looked at him sternly. He took in a deep breath and let it out, and his face suddenly had a wide eyed sad look on it and he threw his arms up in the air.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sokka shouted.

Aang was shocked. He expected Sokka to be… well, more angry. Aang smiled at his friend. "I tried to tell you, back at the village where we met Aunt Wu."

Sokka looked confused. "You were talking about my sister?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "How long have you had this crush on Katara?"

"I think 'crush' is a bit of an understatement." Aang giggled. "Actually, I don't know when it started. It was probably the moment I opened my eyes after being in an iceberg for a hundred years. I've always felt a strong connection with Katara, and I felt it when I first laid my eyes on her… and since that moment, my feelings just grew more and more over time." Aang's face looked peaceful as he thought back to the very first moments Aang and Katara shared together. He woke up in her arms, and he saw the most beautiful face he'd ever seen, and will ever see. "I'm in love with Katara." Aang's voice was soft and sounded so pure that it almost brought tears to Sokka's eyes.

Sokka got himself together and threw an arms around Aang's shoulders from the side of him and gave him a squeeze, being goofy to hide his sensitivity to Aang's passion. "Aw Aang, I think that's sweet! Of course, as her brother, you have to have MY permission before you can properly date her." Sokka grinned from ear to ear.

Aang looked up at him with exaggerated pleading eyes, making his bottom lip tremble a bit, and Sokka bursted out laughing. "Ok, ok, you have my permission! But, since she is my only sister, this is the only chance I get to do the big brother talk to a guy that wants my sister." Sokka stood up straight and cleared his throat. "Aang…" Aang straightened up too and looked at him. "If you break my sister's heart, I will break all the bones in your body."

Aang gave him a sly grin. "Sokka, do you really think you can take me on?" Sokka slumped, with a 'yeah, that's true' expression, and Aang laugh. "But you don't have to worry anyway, I couldn't imagine being with anyone but Katara."

Just then, Zuko was spotted walking down the hall towards them. When he approached, he turned to Aang. "You got a message this morning." Zuko handed Aang the rolled up parchment. Confused, Aang pulled the string loose and unraveled it. He read the brief message and looked at Zuko.

"It's from the village elder of Osaiya. He's requesting an audience with me at his village." Aang told his friend. Aang and Zuko had visited that Earth Kingdom village during their recent travels and took care of a band of ruffians who showed up at the village while they were there. They tried to ransack and terrorize the people there. The village wasn't small, it was quite nice and laid in the foothills of a huge mountain where there were many mines. The villagers mined for the beautiful and rare gemstones that could be found only there and nowhere else, which is what made the village so prosperous. Obviously, that was what the band of thieves was after. Zuko had placed some troops in the village to help defend the village and their precious mines of gemstones.

"Did he mention what he wanted to speak to you about?" Zuko asked.

Aang shook his head. "No, just that he wants me to come by as soon as I have the chance. It's not that far, only a few hours ride on Appa. I should just go ahead and go today."

"Where are you going?" Katara walked up just then, and Aang turned his gaze to her. She was dressed and ready for the day already. He noticed right away that her hair was mostly down, part of it up on a bun, and he smiled. He explained to Katara about the village and how he was requested to come visit with the elder there.

"Oh" Katara said, a little sad. "Well, when are you going?"

"I thought I'd go today, actually." He noticed the surprised look on Katara's face, and saw how she tried to hide it. She looked slightly disappointed, but she tried to act indifferent. "It'll probably be an overnight trip, I may even stay a couple of days." He went on.

"Oh… ok. Well, have fun… I guess." She said.

"Katara, you should come with me." Aang suggested. She looked surprised. "The area over there is beautiful, there are waterfalls and lush forests, we can make a mini vacation out of it."

Katara's face lit up. "Ok, sounds fun! I'll go pack up!"

"Me too!" Sokka shouted in excitement. "I'll go get Suki and we'll be ready soon!" Before Aang could protest, Sokka was running down the hall to his room.

A few of the villagers spotted the flying bison in the distance, and soon word spread fast of the approach. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Suki were all aboard Appa as he came down for a landing in a clearing in the west end of the village. People were crowded around to see what was going on, and as soon as they saw Aang, gasps were heard among the crowd, along with the shrieks and louder gasps from young girls among the crowd. Katara noticed them right away. Of course he would be popular among the girls. He was the Avatar, and he definitely wasn't hard on the eyes.

Aang and Sokka slid down Appa first, then helped down the ladies. Toph decided not to join, she thought it would be pointless for her to go. Everyone guessed that she just wanted to spend time with Haru.

As Aang turned to face the crowd, the young girls made their way to the front of the crowd to get a better look at Aang. Some were even eyeing Sokka. The girls were whispering to each other and giggling. It didn't bother Katara too much, at least not until a girl bursted through the crowd, running to Aang.

"Aang! You came back!" The girl yelled. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck and embraced him hard, almost knocking him over. Katara watched in shock. How did he know this girl?

"Ah…. hey Maiya." Aang said, lightly returning the hug, not putting any force into the embrace like she did. She pulled away from him and gave him her biggest smile she possibly could. Katara noticed that this girl was actually pretty cute. She had gray eyes and light brown hair that went down past the middle of her back. She looked to be about Aang's age as well.

Aang pulled away from the girl and turned to his friends. He introduced them. "This is Sokka, and that's Suki, and this is Katara. And of course you know Appa." Appa let out his loud Appa moan, as if to greet the girl. Katara noticed that Aang didn't make any special indication of her. What exactly was this girl to him? Did something happen with them when he came here last? Katara felt her stomach knot up as she worried over it.

The group was escorted to a large house, the Elder's house, where they would be staying at while they were there. Aang was informed that they had not anticipated him to be arriving so soon and that the village elder wouldn't be back till later in the evening. So the group decided to just relax and enjoy themselves.

To Katara's dismay, Maiya had been following them around. Well, she had been following Aang around. After a while, she just couldn't stand it and she just had to ask. "So how do you guys know each other? How did you meet?"

"Well, she's the village elder's granddaughter" Aand replied. Katara raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Aang saved me!" Maiya explained with excitement. "That band of jerks who attacked our village kidnapped me and threatened to do bad things to me if my Grandpapa didn't hand over all our gemstones we mine from the caves. They had me deep in the mountains, and Aang came and found me and fought off the bad guys and carried me back to the village."

Katara felt a wave of depression fall over her. He saved her? He _carried _her back to the village? She tried to hide her anger and jealously as best she could, but Aang could see it.

"Well, her ankle was twisted, so she couldn't walk." Aang said, looking straight at Katara.

Oh yeah, like that explanation makes me feel better about it. Maiya seemed oblivious to Katara's frustration and was focused completely on Aang. "You're my hero Aang." She hugged him tightly again.

Sokka watched and raised his eyebrow in suspicion to Aang. Aang returned his glance with a worried look, almost like he was begging Sokka to help him out.

Katara got up. "I'm going to go out for a bit. I'll see you guys later." And she walked out the door. She walked a few paces down a path that looked like it would lead to a forest, and she started running, She couldn't believe how hurt she felt. Did Aang have any idea how she would feel about this? Did he care? Why was he letting this girl all over him? Was it just because she was the village elder's granddaughter?

Aang got away from Maiya finally. "I think I'll go out for a bit too."

"I'll go with you!" Maiya said excitedly.

Before she could follow Aang, Suki grabbed the girl's wrist. "Actually," Suki said. "We would love for you to show us around. Aang already knows his way around obviously, since he's been here before. Why not hang out with us for now."

Maiya looked at them, and then looked painfully at the door that Aang had just walked out of.

After a while, Aang finally caught up to Katara. She heard him approach, but she didn't turn to face him because of how embarrassed she was of being jealous.

"Katara, wait! What's wrong?" He grabbed her wrist and pulled to turn her around. He saw water in her eyes that she was trying to hold in, along with anger. She yanked her wrist back and looked away. "It's bothering you that much? You know I have no interest in her, right? The only girl I want…"

"Aang…" She interrupted. "Just stop it." He froze in horror at her words. She stood silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"I know, ok. But… I can't help but to be angry. You were just doing your job as the Avatar, you were doing what you felt was right, but still… I don't like to hear about you saving some girl who is love struck over you… and holding her like that…" She brought her hand up to her cheek and rubbed a tear away with her palm . "And I guess stuff like that may happen again, you being the Avatar and your obligation to help other people."

Aang wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. He nuzzled his head in her hair and closed his eyes as he took in the wonderful scent of her.

"You are the only girl I want to hold, Katara, you know that right?"

She nodded and buried her head in the space between his neck and his shoulder.

The sun was beginning to set, and the trees around them changed hues along with the air around them with the vibrant colors of dusk. Aang could feel Katara's heart racing against his chest and wondered if she could feel his doing the same. Her arms were around his neck, his arms were around her middle to lower back, and he could feel, though just slightly, the rise and fall of her chest against his. It sent shivers down his body and to the lower region of his stomach. Just that simple feeling of her could do so much to him.

"You know, we never really had a chance to finish our conversation yesterday." He said softly.

Katara opened her eyes and felt a sudden nervousness. She had admitted to being in love with him, and he told her he loved her. The nervousness was coupled with a rush of excitement as he pulled away just slightly to look into her eyes. She stared back, a loss with words. Aang had the question prepared to let out, he was going to ask Katara to be his girlfriend, but before he could ask, he saw Maiya approach from the corner of his eye.

Maiya had seen them as she approached, and before she was noticed, she stopped, and was overcome with jealously and hatred for the girl in his arms. She hid her emotions very well, however, and approached them.

"My grandpapa is back now." She announced. She smiled and cocked her head to the side in a cute fashion. Katara felt a bit of relief, maybe the girl wasn't so obsessed after all since she didn't seem fazed by the sight of her and Aang together. Oh course she didn't know how wrong she was.

"Let's continue this later tonight." Aang said.

They followed Maiya back to her house where her grandfather awaited them. Sokka and Suki were there waiting as well, sitting on the comfortable couch in the living room of the elder's house. The elder, a tall, built, elderly man, stood there awaiting them. He reminded Katara of Master Paccu.

"It's nice to see you again, Lee Yun." Aang said respectfully.

"And you too, Avatar Aang." The man bowed back.

Aang straightened and looked up at the man. "So… um, what was it that you needed me for, sir?"

The Elder chuckled, "Let's not be in such a hurry. Let's all have some supper and tea, and then we will discuss the matter later."

After their light meal and a round of tea, the group made their way back into the living room. Lee Yun sat down in a chair, and everyone but Aang sat on the couch.

"Have a seat." Lee Yun gestured to a cushioned chair, which sat facing another that Lee Yun then sat in.

Maiya sat next to Katara on the couch, which made Katara feel a bit awkward, and she had no idea that the girl did it intentionally.

Lee Yun smiled at his granddaughter, then looked at the floor. "Maiya's parents were taken from her by Fire Nation soldiers during the war when she was very young. I took her into my care and raised her myself. But she has a gift, you see, a gift that needed to be handled with care, because if she was found out, her life would have been taken by the Fire Nation."

Aang gave him a questioning look. Lee Yun continued. "When I first saw signs of this gift, right after I took her in, I told her to never use her gifts ever again, for it was too dangerous for her to use. But now that this war is over, I believe that it is safe for it to be known… maybe even important." He looked up at Aang with a very serious expression. "Maiya is an airbender. And I would like for you to teach her airbending."

Everyone in the room gasped and looked at Maiya. Aang, especially. He wasn't, after all this time, the last airbender? He looked at her with disbelief. "But how?" He asked. "How is it that she's an airbender?"

"Her great great grandfather, on the other side of her family, was an airbender monk at the Western Air Temple. His son was an airbender as well, but he ran away from home because he had fallen in love with a woman from the Earth Kingdom. The war started, and the airbenders were all destroyed. The man had two children with his wife, but neither one of them were airbenders. The man was found later on and was killed because he was an airbender, but they didn't find his family that he carefully hid away. One of those children was her grandmother, and she had only one child, her father. No one else after Maiya's great grandfather was an airbender, and no one thought it would ever be possible for one to show up in the line since the airbending blood had grown so thin. But here she is, an airbender." The old man paused and sighed.

Aang, still in shock and not sure how to feel, replied finally, "Wow, that's… amazing. You're like a miracle child, Maiya."

Maiya smiled sweetly at Aang and blushed. Katara was almost sweating. She couldn't believe it, there was actually another airbender alive in this world. She was suddenly afraid about what would come next when she noticed that Lee Yun had more to say.

"Aang," Lee Yun said with a voice filled with stern yet compassion at the same time. Aang looked at the man.

"Yes?"

"I want you to marry my granddaughter."

*** Not so much on the romance in this one, sorry. But the next chapter will definitely make up for it XD! But you gotta wait for now. I'd like to know your opinions, so if you don't mind, please leave a review... Also, I'm kinda new here, so I don't know how to navigate around the site much yet, so I don't know how to view reviews without just searching for my story on the site. Can I look at the reviews somewhere in my account area thing?***


	4. Marriage Trap

*** It seems these chapters keep getting longer lol. Well, I had a lot of 'detail' to add in... I guess this is what you call "lemon" on here, though I don't get it... Oh well, when God gives you a creative imagination, you make lemons! right? K on with it now...***

After the surprising news of Lee Yun's granddaughter, everyone was excused from Aang and Lee Yun's presence so that they may talk in private. Katara felt empty as she went to her room that was prepared for her for her stay there. She had just come out with her feelings for Aang, and he to her as well, and it seemed as though she was already going to lose him. Tears ran down her cheek as she stood there, leaning against the closed door in her room. How could she possibly think that she could be with the Avatar? She had never really looked at him in such a way as the rest of the world did, because they didn't know him like she did. To her, he was always just Aang. But he was much more than that. He was practically placed on a high pedestal and his place and loyalty was to the world, not herself. Katara felt a sharp pain in her chest at the realization that maybe it just wasn't going to happen after all.

It was later in the evening when Aang had left the house's back garden, finally over with his conversation with Lee Yun.

Aang came up to Katara's bedroom door and stopped right in front of it. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. He knocked softly on the door. No answer. He tried again, and still no answer. He thought for a moment, and then opened the door. She was sitting on her bed, her back facing the door. She was hugging her bent legs and had her chin rested on her knees. She was staring off at nothing.

Aang's heart sank at the sight of her. He fought back the tears that were threatening his eyes, and called out to her.

"Katara…"

She sighed softly, then slowly turned herself to face him.

Back at the garden, Maiya was in a rage. "You couldn't have tried a little harder to convince him?" She yelled at her grandfather.

"Maiya, quiet down! People are sleeping!"

Maiya put on her best pouting face and looked away.

"Well, we still have another plan in motion." Lee Yun said. "You know, just in case something like this were to happen…"

Maiya looked up at him, confused. "Really? What is the plan?"

"I put a special drug in his tea. It should take its effect sometime soon, so you may want to go visit him in his room in a bit."

Maiya blushed, "What… what kind of drug?"

Lee Yun chuckled, "Just go, and I will take care of the rest. I'll make sure to come by his room before it gets too out of hand. It's the perfect trap for forcing him into marriage with you."

Maiya stared at her grandfather in disbelief. They didn't find out till later that Aang wasn't in his room. And though Maiya waited at his door for a while, the thought that Aang was upstairs and at the other end of the big house in Katara's room never occurred to her.

Aang walked in and closed the door. He came up to the edge of her bed and stared at her with sadness in his face.

"So…" Katara started, with an indifferent tone in her voice, looking down at the floor, "What happened?"

"Well, of course I turned him down. You knew I would, right?"

She looked up at Aang. Relief fell over her. "Aang, I didn't know what you would do. You're the last airbender… well, no you're not anymore. I guess it would make sense to be with another airbender so that your chances of having children that can airbend are higher. After all, your duty is to the world…"

"Katara!" He cut her off. "I know I've been so focused on doing what's right, and keeping the world in balance is my job as the avatar, but when it comes to you, I just don't care about the rest of the world! I don't want to be with anyone else but you! Geez, sometimes I wish I wasn't born as the Avatar… But… "He looked away from her and softened his voice. "but then I realize that if I wasn't the Avatar, I wouldn't have met you, so that wish of not being the Avatar just goes right out the window. I didn't sleep in a block of ice for a hundred years just to marry some crazy airbender girl I don't know! It was to meet you. I belong with you! And I only want to be with you. And besides, we don't know for sure she is an airbender. I haven't seen her doing any airbending yet. But honestly, I could never love anyone else, or even think about doing… intimate things… with anyone but you."

She was looking up at him again with surprise on her face, tears burning her eyes.

"We're leaving tomorrow. I told Lee Yun I would teach his granddaughter how to airbend, but I won't marry her. He knows how to find me later when he gets over me rejecting his granddaughter. He convinced me to have us just stay the night tonight and that we could leave in the morning if we'd like," He said.

Katara nodded and smiled. She got up and caught Aang by surprise with a hug. And just then, she felt a little pain in her stomach. She let go and held her stomach.

"Are you ok, Katara?"

"Yeah, just a little stomach ache. Maybe I drank too much of that sweet tea."

Aang giggled, "Yeah I'll say…. You even drank mine!"

Katara gave him an apologetic look and he smiled. He pulled her head forward and kissed her forehead.

"I'd like to go to sleep now," she said in a tired voice.

He nodded, "Ok. Goodnight then."

He walked to her door, and she stopped him with a tug on his shirt. He looked back at her.

"Aang, I…" She felt embarrassment show in her flushed face. "I love you."

Aang's eyes widened, and he turned his body completely around and embraced her tightly and pressed his lips against hers. Katara felt the butterflies in her stomach go wild, more than ever, and her body tingled with excitement.

He broke from the kiss and looked into her eyes, holding her face with both of his hands. "I love you too, Katara. And I hope you don't mind, but from now on, you are going to be known as the girlfriend of the Avatar."

It was Katara's turn to be surprised now. She nodded and giggled, and hugged him again.

"I'll see you in the morning." He said. Then he left her room.

Outside of her room, Aang sighed and quietly laid his back against her door and he looked dreamily up at the ceiling.

She stood there for a moment in the middle of the room, just smiling and blushing. Well, guess I worry too much about things, she thought. Since Aang came back from being away for six months, he had been so passionate and straight forward with his feelings towards her. Katara still had the tingling sensation all over her, more so than she had ever felt before. She felt like she was beginning to sweat, so she decided to change into her thin night robe that she slept in on warm nights. She undid the sash around her waist and let it drop to the ground. She removed her clothes until she was only in her white bindings that covered the womanly areas of her body.

Outside her door, Aang heard the rustling sound of clothes being removed. A sudden sensation fell over him, and he guiltily stayed there to listen.

Katara's strange feeling felt like it was growing more and more powerful. She undid her bindings slowly over her breasts and then the lower ones. She slipped on her night robe and then stopped before she tied on the sash. She felt so hot, and confused about what was going on with her body. She just thinking of her kissing him, remembering how she felt when he kissed her so passionately just the other day, and the tingling all over her body was beginning to focus more in between her thighs. Unconsciously, her hand started sliding down between her thighs, then up to her womanhood. She gasped at the pleasure she felt from touching herself. But it only made the heat worse. She removed her hand quickly, and she moaned and whimpered.

Aang heard her, and it sounded like she was in pain. He almost went inside, but thought better of it since she might still be changing. So he waited and continued to listen.

Katara struggled with tying the sash around her to keep her robe up, then sat on the edge of her bed. She was still breathing heavy, and the hot sensation that was drowning her body wasn't going away. What was wrong with her, she wondered. She slid her hand back down between the curtains of her robe, and gasped softly again at her own touch on the lips of her womanhood. She pressed harder, and let out a moan, almost sounding like she was in pain.

Aang heard the soft and muffled noises coming from her room. Thinking she was in pain, he couldn't take it any more. He knocked on her door. She jumped at the sound, and before she could answer or get up, the door opened. Aang stood in the doorway. "Are you ok?" Then he let out a small gasp.

He could see the curves of her perfect body through the thin material of her night robe, and the look on her face was one he had never seen before. Her eyes were heavily lidded and her expression looked almost like she was in pain. His jaw almost fell at the sight of her.

She looked away, embarrassed. "I'm ok. "She breathed out the words heavily.

Aang walked into the room now and slowly closed the door. "You don't look ok. Is your stomach still in pain?" He walked over to her.

No, please don't come closer to me, she thought to herself. But he sat down right next to her.

"Do you want me to get you some medicine?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine…" She could barely control even her voice. The heat was taking over her. Just thinking of Aang made it worse, and now he was sitting so close to her and his body was barely brushed up against hers. Her cheeks were very red, and he stared at her, wondering what was going on.

He looked down and saw that he could completely make out the shape of her breasts through her robe. She's not wearing her bindings over her chest, he thought to himself.. His face turned red and he felt heat rising in him below his belt. Katara noticed his stare and it made her womanhood throb. She clenched her thighs together and tightened her muscles in her feminine area.

Aang watched her every movement, confused . His mind was running wild. She seemed like she was in pain, but for some reason, he almost knew she wasn't. He lifted his hand to her face and pushed her head gently to face him. His own breathing picking up, and he looked down into her luscious blue eyes. They were glazed, he saw, as she looked back into his eyes. "Are you ok? Is there something you need me to do?" He asked in a soft, almost whisper.

She tightened her thighs again, the soft sound of his voice was so powerful to her. She had never felt so much need for him before, never like this. She felt like she was on fire. She wanted him so much to attack her with passion, but at the same time she wanted to shove him away from her before that heat building up inside her made her explode. She couldn't speak, she felt like she had no words to say. Fear and lust showed in her eyes as she placed her hand over his hand that was on her face. The hotness between her legs was almost painful. She tried so hard to not rub her womanhood with her thighs anymore, but the sensation was overpowering. She clenched her eyes shut and whispered words that Aang could barely hear, but still it was heard… _Aang… please…_

He completely came undone. He didn't have much experience with girls, only what he experienced with Katara, but his instincts were what was beginning to guide him, along with the memories of his many fantasies that he had about her. He was hesitant, but he pulled her face to his and kissed her lips tenderly. Katara moaned lightly against his lips unknowingly. She felt scared of what was going on with her, but she knew she wanted his touch more than anything.

Aang parted her lips with his tongue and attacked her mouth with it. She arched her back and her breasts pushed up against his chest. She was getting hotter and she tightened her thighs again. Aang felt her do it, and he figured that down there was the source of her agony. He felt a jolt of excitement when he felt the silk of her robe when he lowered his hand on her leg, and he hesitated, waiting for her to protest. But when she didn't respond negatively, he slipped his hand under the fabric of her robe. Katara let out a small gasp against his mouth as his fingers touched the top of her thigh. The sensation taking control over his body became stronger when he realized she wasn't wearing her lower bindings either. They paused from kissing, staring at each other with heavy lids, their open mouths barely touching. As he stared at her with longing in his eyes, he continued to slip his hand up her thigh. The sensation was almost too much to for her to bare.

His fingers slid gently across the lower part of the lips of her womanhood, and she gasped and whimpered at the same time. She squeezed her eyes shut and looked again as if she was in pain.

"Katara," He said softly. "Am I hurting you?" He stopped his hand, but it never left the area if found.

She shivered against him again. His hand wasn't moving, it stayed right where it was, his fingers gently laid over her womanhood . His hand touching her felt so much more incredible than her own hand for some reason.

"No." She breathed the words out forcefully. "It doesn't hurt."

He began to move his hand again, softly rubbing her folds and he could see it in her face that it was driving her crazy, and it was arousing him to the extreme. "How does it feel?" He asked passionately into her ear, his hot breath on her skin sending shivers down that side of her body.

Katara's soft panting became deeper. "It feels…." She squeezed her eyes closed. "really.. g-good…"

He breathed heavily against her cheek, lowered his head and kissed her jaw line by her ear, and at the same time his fingers rubbed against her folds and he slipped a finger between them. She froze and grabbed his arms. Aang grinned. He found her sensitive spot. He was feeling more and more aroused with every breath and gasp she made, and he knew he couldn't get any more hard than he was now. She was so warm and she was getting quite wet. He continued his massage, and she cried out his name softly.

And that was it. He couldn't take it any more. She let out a breath forcefully as he removed his hand from her. He went for the sash that was tied around her and undid it. She grabbed the silk before it fell off of her to reveal her body, and looked at him with a scared expression. He moved in on her face and kissed her softly. He rubbed his hand down her side and then broke away from her lips and looked intensely at her.

"Katara." He whispered against her lips. "Please, let me see you." She knew she wouldn't be able to hold onto her robe for very long, and his alluring voice is what did it.

He moved his hand over her hands that were holding her robe in place, and she loosened her grip. His hand pulled away the silk to reveal her naked body. He stared at her in awe. He had never seen a girl naked before.

"Katara…" He whispered. "You're so unbelievably beautiful…"

She blushed and felt even more shy after his words. She felt the heat in her womanhood igniting even more, and she subconsciously gripped her upper thigh. Aang was beginning to sweat, so he took his tunic off, but left his pants on. He then wrapped his arms gently around Katara and started to move her down. He placed his hand at the back of her head as the back of her body was laid gently on the bed, as if he was holding the most delicate treasure in the world.

Her eyes never left his gaze, and after he set her down, he softly rubbed his hand down her neck and down further to between her breasts. He looked down at them, taking in the wonderful sight. They were perfectly rounded, not small at all, but not too big either. Everything about her body was in perfect proportion. He wondered how he could ever have been so blessed to be with such a wonderful girl like her. She blushed as he stared dreamily at her.

His hand slid across her right breast, and as a finger went over the peak of her breast, she gasped in pleasure. She felt like his skin was leaving a trail of fire wherever he touched her body.

He positioned himself so that his hand could make it's way back down to the spot that gave her the most pleasure, and her mouth fell open in a silent gasp when he reached his destination. He moved his middle finger around between her folds and then started pressing harder. He noticed her grip on his sides got stronger when he pushed harder, so he continued to do it that way.

"Aang…" She moaned. She was going crazy as she felt the pleasure building up in her. Aang bent his head down and kissed her right breast. His cheek slid across her nipple as he trailed his tongue along her breast, then he went up and licked it. She gasped louder then. He swirled his tongue around it, loving the taste of her skin. Then he closed his mouth around the target and lightly sucked on it. It felt so amazing to her that she subconsciously placed her hand on his head. Before she pressed down on his head to bring it closer to her chest, she realized what she was doing and immediately became too embarrassed to push, but she left her hand there.

And then, she felt it. The hard bulge in his pants pressed up against her leg, and she suddenly felt terrified. She was so caught up in the pleasure that Aang was giving to her that she forgot to comprehend what was going on with them. Was she ready for this?

Aang felt her shiver at the pressure of his erection against her leg. He raised his head up a little and looked at her, watching her expression as he massaged the most sacred part of her body. She grabbed his arm that was supporting his weight above her as she felt herself reaching her limit. Aang saw that the intensity was building up in her, and as she started to moan louder, he placed his hand over her mouth to muffle the sounds and began to move his fingers faster and harder. She nearly screamed into his hand as she climaxed.

Another moment later, the sensation in her slowly came to an end and she was breathing heavy as if she just ran across the continent. She opened her tear filled eyes and stared at Aang. He stared back at her. He wanted to take it further, to take her completely, but he was afraid that she may not be ready for that level of intimacy and he was afraid of scaring her if he tried.

So he reached for the covers and laid them over her and then lay right next to her. She turned on her side, facing him, and they just stared at each other. Her arms were crossed over her chest, still embarrassed about being completely exposed to him. He pulled her into his embrace, and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arm around him, and he felt her breasts push up against his chest. He tried his best to not rub his still erection against her. The urge was very hard to resist though.

"Katara…" He whispered. "I love you so much."

"I love you… too…" She whispered back as she lost consciousness and gave into her tiredness and fell asleep.

Aang waited a little while before slipping out of her bed. He knew something wasn't right. There was no way Katara would have been like that all of a sudden. Something must have caused her to do it. He quietly made his way downstairs and peered down the hall and was caught by surprise. Maiya was sitting on the floor next to his bedroom door, her back against the wall, asleep. It looked like she was waiting for him. He then stopped and thought for a moment. What was she doing there? He wasn't stupid, he knew how much of a crush she had on him, and then a thought occurred to him. He had enough education about different types of tea and medicine from Uncle Iroh to be suspicious about it. He quietly crept past her and made his way to the kitchen. After searching for a while through cupboards, he found the medicine stash. The culprit was right in the front, which means it was probably used more recently than the others. He read the label. It was a type of aphrodisiac. He couldn't pronounce the name of it, but he had heard of it and knew it was a very illegal drug and used for rape in most cases. He read the effects on the back: 'Takes effect after about 2 hours of consumption. Intensely arouses user into sexual acts. Use on women to succumb them into sexual activity. Use on men to highly increase sexual desire. Effects wear off after approximately four to five hours, or after climax. Perfect for arranged marriages to unattractive partners.' Aang raised one eyebrow to the bluntness of the last part of the description.

So that was it, then. It was put into his tea so that when Maiya came to his room, he would attack her. She even waited at his door for him. He shivered at the thought of it. He put the medicine back where he found it and quietly made his way back to Katara's room. He already knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. It was only a few hours felt until sunrise anyway. He crawled back in bed next to Katara and wrapped her in his arms, careful to not wake her up.

A couple of hours later, he decided it was time to wake her up. She was shocked and almost yelped at the sight of herself naked next to Aang. He quickly put his hand over her mouth and motioned her to keep quiet.

She suddenly remembered what had happened and she went beat red with embarrassment.

"They tried to poison me with an illegal aphrodisiac, probably to get me to attack Maiya and force me marry her for doing it. They put it in my tea, but you ended up drinking my tea." She stared at him wide eyed after his explanation.

"Yeah, I know, pretty messed up huh?" He took her hand and kissed her palm lovingly. Katara shivered at the gesture. He looked at her with apologetic eyes.

"It's ok Aang." She said, "You're a guy, of course you would want to… well, you know… after the way I was acting from the drug."

"No, Katara… if it were any other girl, there would be no way I would do that. But it was you…" He explained, his eyes burning as he stared into hers. "I wanted to… I mean… I just… I want you, no one else. It took all of my strength to not go all the way with you."

Katara felt a tingling in her lower stomach, and she remembered the feeling of his rather large erection push up against her leg. She felt desire in her, but at the same time, she was terrified. She blushed, "Aang…"

"I know… you're scared." He said softly, "I didn't think you were ready. And I definitely don't want this to happen here. But I… I just…" He left his sentence broken. He pulled her closer to him, her arms covering her chest. He wasn't sure what else he could say to her. He wanted to pour out all of his desires to her, tell her how much he wanted her, but he couldn't. He sighed. "We need to leave here before Lee Yan and his granddaughter wake up. I'll leave the room, you can get changed and I'll wake the others."

The next morning, Elder Lee Yan knocked softly on Aang's door. No answer. What, did the boy stay out all night and not return to his room at all, he wondered. He was pretty irritated that his plan hadn't worked, of course. He opened the door and found that it was indeed empty, but there was a note on the bed.

_Dear Mr. Lee Yan,_

_Thank you very much for your hospitality, but we decided to leave before dawn. We have many things to take care of back at home. I'm sorry that I cannot marry your granddaughter. I decided to leave this information out last night, I wasn't sure if it would have been appropriate at the time, but the truth is that I'm in love with another girl and do not intend to spend my life with any girl but her. Katara is the only girl I want to be with. But, like I said last night, I am willing to teach Maiya airbending if you so wish it, but not here. You can come for me at the Fire Nation Palace and I with teach her under the supervision of the palace guard. Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye._

_Sincerely_

_Aang_

_p.s. I thought maybe I should let you know, I didn't drink the tea you served me last night. Sorry, but I only like to drink General Iroh's tea. Katara drank it though, and she enjoyed it quite a bit._

*** This almost seemed to me like this would be a pretty good ending here. But there is just so much more that Aang and Katara haven't done yet! I have a lot more ideas that I'm writing out. Next chapter isn't ready yet, and probably won't be for a couple of days because I'm going to be busy, but the plot is all set. Next week I have quite a bit of free time so I'll do as much as I can then. And oh! Maiya isn't quite out of the story yet...***

***BTW, I'm really into drawing and I am a very good artist. I was thinking of trying to turn my story into a fan comic, since I can't seem to find really any online of Avatar... Hmmm... Just something I'm thinking about...***_  
_


	5. Boy Bonding Time

*** Sorry it took me a bit of time to post the next chapter. You know, when I read other fan fictions, I get bored with the little details that don't have to do with romance and stuff that I really like, and now after writing my own fan fiction I've come to understand the importance of those details. Kinda taking a Kataang break in this one, but don't worry, there will be plenty more. The next 2 chapters after this one are almost done.***

The group made it back to the palace by the early afternoon. After lunch, Sokka went to the training hall to work on his sword techniques, and Suki went to find the Kyoshi warriors to find out what they were up to. And that left Aang alone with Katara.

They didn't have a chance to talk any more about what happened. They were both scared to talk about it. Katara didn't know very much about that kind of intimacy, and of course neither did Aang, but what she experienced the night before with him felt amazing and she almost couldn't look at him the same way. When she saw his hands, she remembered them toughing her with so much intimacy. And Aang had seen her naked now. She wondered if he was having difficulty looking at her without imagining her naked. Of course she was right though. Aang unintentionally brought them further into their relationship, and during the trip back to the palace, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened the night before. He completely wanted her, but now knowing that she was under the influence of drug, he was so happy he didn't take all of her. It would have made him feel so awful.

The silence was wading heavy in the room, so Aang finally broke it.

"So… what do you want to do today?" He asked in a lightened and perky tone.

"I dunno." She replied, then thought for a moment before an idea came to her. "Well, since we're… you know… officially together now… maybe we can…. Go on a date?"

Aang's eyes widened. Why hadn't he thought of that? A large smile spread across his face. "That's a great idea! Let's walk around the streets holding hands and stuff! Then pack a dinner picnic and fly Appa up to the hills and find a nice forest clearing to eat at, and then watch the stars!"

Katara smiled and was happy she made the suggestion. "Ok! But I…. first I want to go take a bath." She blushed as she lowered her eyes to the table in front of her.

That's right, they hadn't bathed since what happened the night before. Aang blushed too, then said "Yeah, I think I should bathe too. Have to smell and look nice and clean for our date."

Katara looked back up at him, smiling. Aang wanted so much to jokingly ask her to bathe with him, but he was worried that the suggestion might scaring her. But what if she said yes?

As Katara got up, he shook the thought away and watched her as she left the dining room. He looked down at his tea and smiled. He loved her so much that he felt like he wasn't the avatar anymore, and that he didn't have a big responsibility to the world anymore. He was just Aang, a normal guy in love with a normal girl.

I can be the avatar and still be in love, he told himself. His past lives did the same, so why couldn't he?

Because he was an airbender.

He thought about Maiya. Was she really an airbender? He left without even saying anything to her and probably left her very hurt. But he didn't have a choice. There was no way he was going to be with any girl besides Katara. And they actually tried to trap him into a forced marriage. That drug was meant for Aang, not Katara. But would it have really made him do inappropriate things to Maiya? Surely he would have ran straight for Katara's room if he started feeling the drug's effects. But Maiya was at his door waiting for him, so she obviously knew about the drug too and went there to make herself be there before he could go find Katara. But even under the drug's influence, would he really have done that to another girl besides the one he loves?

Aang's thoughts were cut short when the sliding door of the dining room slid open again and in came Sokka. Aang looked up at him with surprise.

"I thought you went off to train." Aang said.

"Yeah, that was an excuse to get Suki away from me for a while."

Aang's mouth dropped. "What? Why would you do that? You're not getting sick of her and going to break up are you?" Aang asked, almost shouting.

"What? No! I just need her away from me cause… well, I need to do something. And she can't know about it."

Aang looked at him questionably. "Well, that doesn't sound good either."

"Well actually…" Sokka hesitated for a moment. " I want to find a certain type of stone. A stone used in the water tribe for betrothal necklaces. I'm going to make a betrothal necklace for Suki."

Aang's eyes went wide. "You're gonna ask Suki to marry you? That's great! I'm so happy for you guys!"

"SHHH! Keep it down, I don't want anyone else to find out!" Sokka said cautiously. "I need your help! I want to you to come with me. Zuko had a scholar look into it for me, and he said I can find this stone in a lake below Mount Ash. He said it's on an island just off the coast to the west and it won't take long to get there. It's usually heavily guarded, but he said he can grant us entrance easily. We can be back in time for dinner!"

"Today?" Aang asked, sounding upset. "I was going to take Katara out on a date today! She getting ready to go right now."

"Ah come on, can't you just go tomorrow? It would be better to go on a date on your birthday anyway."

Aang gasped. "My birthday! I completely forgot it's tomorrow! And you remembered? How did that happen?"

Sokka looked at him with an annoyed expression. "What, you think I'm forgetful? I even bought you a birthday present!"

Aang laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. But really, I don't want to flake out on Katara. She'd get upset!"

"Well…" Sokka said. "I guess I can just tell her about my plan. I really didn't want to tell any more people than I needed to. But then again, Katara might be able to help me out too."

Aang felt a little depressed. He really wanted to just spend some time alone with Katara, but Sokka was going to propose to Suki! He just had to help his friend out. And then a thought occurred to him: a water betrothal necklace. He could find a stone too, and make a necklace for Katara. But wasn't it too soon for that? There was no doubt in his mind that he didn't want to be with anyone else for the rest of his life, and he was sure he made that point clear to Katara as well. But marriage… he never thought it all completely through before. If not for now, he could find her one and save it for when the time was right.

"Alright." Aang said finally. "Let's do this then!"

Katara was a little upset about not being able to spend the day with Aang like she was hoping to, but Sokka was going to propose to Suki! So she thought she should let it slid this time. She agreed to keep Suki occupied and just make up some excuse as to why Aang and Sokka were off doing 'boy things'.

It didn't take them long to prepare for their short journey to Mount Ash. It had only taken them about an hour to get there, and they found a clearing to land on by the base of the mountain. Zuko had told them of this area and that there was a hidden entrance there. They weren't able to get Toph to come along, but fortunately for them, Aang had some of her abilities, just not as perfected. He found the hidden cave entrance and earth bended it open for them.

"Yeah, you see why I wanted you to come along now?" Sokka asked sarcastically.

"Cause you're scared of being alone in a dark, spooky cave all by yourself?" Aang replied with a smirk.

"What? No way! I'm not scared of some dark cave." Sokka shot back with a proud expression on his face.

Aang laughed. The two of them went in. Sokka, of course, gestured for Aang to enter first, and Aang giggled at that. Sokka defended his pride by saying it was just because he couldn't see in the dark, and that since Aang had 'Toph feet' now, and that he could make fire and hold it without burning himself, he should go in first.

They continued to walk a little further in, not knowing exactly what they were looking for. They figure they would know when they found it. As the light from the tunnel entrance was getting further and further away, Aang eventually made a fire for them to see with.

"So…" Aang started off. "When did you decide you wanted to marry Suki?"

"You know, I'm not sure." Sokka said thoughtfully. "I know I love her and don't want to be with anyone else…" Sokka trailed off his sentence and stopped for a moment. "Well, I guess that's not entirely true. Although I met Suki first, I loved Yue too. If Yue didn't end up becoming the moon, I don't know if I would have ended up being with Suki, even though Yue was in an arranged marriage. I feel awful thinking that way, it almost makes it seem like Suki is runner up in my heart or something, but I know that's not how I feel about her. I'm a very lucky guy to have her though. She's a very understanding woman and she stays with me, despite that there is another girl in my heart. I love Suki and I want to spend my life with her now."

"Wow…" Aang said. "That's… very touching. I don't know what to say to that." He considered Sokka's situation. "You know, I don't really have any kind of problem like that. To me, there is just Katara and there never was anyone else. It must be tough for you. But there are still issues in our relationship too. Like me being the Avatar and having to be part of something bigger than just her and myself. I'm worried it's going to be too much for her to handle." Aang stopped for a moment to think. "You know, it seem that no matter how much we care about them and try to make them happy, there's something that is part of us that is still gonna hurt them."

"Yeah… you're right." Sokka took what Aang said into consideration. Then a thought came to him."Hey… wait a minute, are you planning on taking a stone from here too?"

Aang's eyes widened, nearly budging out. He was hoping to keep it a secret. "Well… um…" Aang rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the ground, blushing furiously. There was no way he would sneak a stone from this cave unnoticed since Sokka was now onto him.

Sokka turned to him and grabbed his arms. "You ARE! You're going to ask Katara to marry you! Aren't you?"

"No! Erhh um I mean, not yet!" Aang was shrinking against Sokka's 'I'm her big brother' power over him. "I really want to ask her, but not yet!" Sokka loosened his grip on him. Sokka stared at him with an 'I want more details' expression.

"Yes, I was gonna find a stone here too. You know how much I love her, so of course I want to marry her! But I'm not going to ask her just yet." Aang sighed, then continued. "I'm so worried that being with me might take a lot from her. I would love to just marry her and have… a normal family with her." Aang blushed again. "But… I'm afraid that the family I have is gonna have too be pretty large, considering the huge lack in the population of airbenders."

"Well, that Maiya girl is apparently an airbender." Sokka said, "She will probably get married and have airbending babies too!"

"Yeah, well… I don't know for sure that she is an airbender yet. We don't have any proof of that yet."

"Yeah, that's true…"

"Well anyway," Aang continued on. "I just hope that Katara is willing to be with me, despite the obstacles and… things she will have to go through to be with me…"

Aang stopped as he saw a luminousness glow coming from down the tunnel. "Look at that over there!" He said, as he pointed in the direction of the light.

They ran towards the glow and they found a big opening inside of the cave with a small lake. The walls were littered with glittering rocks and the glow was coming from underneath the water and reflecting off of those shining rocks. Aang and Sokka just stood there and stared at the beauty they had uncovered and then looked at each other and smiled in unison.

Sokka ran over to the water and stopped at the edge to have a closer look at the water. "I think I can see the rock we are looking under the water!"

Aang walked over to his friend, got onto his knees to have a closer look. "I think I do too." He looked at his friend and smiled. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

The girls weren't at the palace when the guys came back. Aang and Sokka went up to Sokka's room to look more closely at the stones they found and to decide what they were going to do with them.

"I have to find a very good hiding spot for it!" Sokka said anxiously.

"Why? Do you really think she's going to sneak into your room and go through your stuff or something? Just put it in your top drawer…" Aang pulled it open and found something he wasn't expecting to find. Something that definitely wouldn't belong to Sokka. Aang turned bright red and slammed the drawer closed.

Sokka stared at him blankly. "Yeah… that's why. Suki and I…. well, kinda share a room."

"I didn't think you guys would be that… far along in your relationship already." Aang said dumbfounded.

"Of course we are! We're 17 years old! Well, I guess it seems like too much to you, since you're only 14."

"Hey!" Aang started up with excitement. " My birthday is tomorrow, so I'm practically 15 now. And I'm not so naive! I've…" Aang realized what he was about to say, so he quickly shut his mouth.

Sokka looked at him. "You what?"

"Nothing."

"No nothing. You were going to say something!" Sokka said, getting agitated.

"I, uh… I've heard things is all I was gonna say." Aang said, looking away blushing, trying to sound dumb. "Things about that kind of stuff."

"Aang, you're a terrible liar." Sokka got closer up in his face and Aang backed away, scared and sweating. Sokka sighed. "Just tell me Aang."

Aang looked away and thought about what he was going to say to him, then took in a deep breath and let it out. He explained to Sokka what had happened in Osaiya while they had stayed the night. He tried to leave out as much of the details about their 'actions' in her room as possible. When he was done explaining himself, Sokka was bugged eyed, mouth dropped, and staring at Aang.

"WHAT?"

"Yeah…" Aang said softly. "Pretty horrible of me, right?"

Sokka got his composure together, and looked thoughtfully at the floor. "Actually, you did a pretty good job controlling yourself" Well, I didn't go into detail about what had happened, Aang thought to himself. "I mean, you probably could have gone a lot further, but you resisted. I… guess that's good."

Aang nodded, still blushing while he was remembering that evening.

"Ok, stop thinking about it!" Sokka said annoyed, as if he could read Aang's thoughts.

"Oh, sorry." Aang gave him a goofy apologetic grin.

Sokka rolled his eyes.

"They're back!" Aang almost yelled. "Quick, we have to hide these!"

They ran around stupidly, looking for somewhere they could hide their precious stone. Then they met in the middle of the room again.

"Oh man! What are we gonna do with these?" Sokka asked anxiously.

Aang thought as quick as he could. He then went through Sokka's drawers and started going through them. He found a draw string pouch. Aang grabbed it, opened it, and put the stones in the pouch and then hid it in a secret pocket in his monk robe he was wearing. "I'll hide IT in my room, since Katara doesn't stay in my room with me…" Aang, without moving his head up, looked up and met Sokka's gaze, and grinned slyly. "…yet."

"Aang….." Sokka said, growling at him. Aang laughed and ran out the door of Sokka's room.

The girls were just turning the corner to go down the hall to Sokka's room when Aang went out the door.

"Oh, hello ladies!" Aang said and bowed.

"Hey Aang." Suki greeted him. "How was your fishing trip?"

Aang's eyes widened at Suki's question. Fishing? Katara couldn't come up with something better than fishing? He was a vegetarian for crying out loud! He looked over at Katara, and she gave him a sly grin. Payback for ditching her, maybe?

"Well…" Aang began. "Sokka didn't catch any fish. Probably because I was practicing my water bending and it scared the fish away or something. We didn't fish much, just had some boy bonding time." Aang smiled. He couldn't believe he was able to come up with something so fast.

"Cool!" Suki said, not looking particularly excited about it. At least she didn't seem like she caught on to Aang's lie. "We smelled something delicious down stairs, so we kind of figured dinner was about ready. Let's go down and see!"

The 4 of them walked down and into the dining hall and had their dinner. Toph and Haru were there to join them as well. They had been out training new earthbender recruits to be deployed as guards around neighboring earth kingdom cities to protect them from rebels. The two of them seemed like they were getting quite close. Aang smiled to himself at the thought. He was happy for Toph for finding a guy to put up with her brute force and painful display of affection. Then he looked over at Katara. He was only away from her for most of a day, but she looked more beautiful than earlier. She always seemed to look more and more beautiful to him. He wanted to be alone with her, away from everyone else. He wanted to airbend everyone out the doors of this room and earthbend rocks to cover the doors from ever opening again, and then grab her and kiss her for hours, and then maybe even…

"… cake?... Aang?"

Aang snapped out of his trance and looked at Zuko, who was talking to him without Aang noticing. "Huh? What?"

Zuko sighed. "I said… What kind of flavors would you like for your birthday cake?"

"Oh… oh! Cake! Birthday! Um…" Aang thought fast. "Uh, anything is fine, as long as you don't put any meat in it."

"I love meat, but I think meat in a cake would be just disgusting!" Sokka said, and everyone laughed.

"Well, I have a date with Katara tomorrow." Aang announced. Katara looked surprised and then blushed. Aang wanted to make sure he didn't have any distractions or interference with his plans this time. "So…. If you want to do cake for me, can we just do it in the morning?"

"What?" Zuko asked surprised. "I have a party planned for you tomorrow! I invited a lot of people."

"But… I haven't really had a chance alone with my girlfriend, and I would like that for my birthday."

"Girlfriend?" Zuko, Toph and Haru said in unison.

"Well it's about time, you dork!" Toph said happily. Everyone laughed.

"You guys can go do date stuff during the afternoon, and just come back in the early evening." Zuko suggested. Aang furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at the table. "Come on, Aang. It's your birthday, you have to party with your friends!"

"You sure like to throw parties, don't you?" Toph asked Zuko.

"Well, it's a birthday after all. And besides, It looks good for my country if I throw parties and such. It makes me seem more hospitable."

Aang sighed. "Ok, I guess we can do it that way." He looked up at Zuko and forced a smile. He should be happy that his friends want to do something for him. It just seemed like things always got in his way when he tried to spend time with Katara.

The next morning, Aang woke up as the sun was beginning to rise. He got out of his bed, rubbed his eyes, and walked over to the balcony. He set his hands on the railing and looked out at the landscape. He smiled. He was 15 years old today, and he would get to spend the day with the girl he loves, but only till his birthday bash later that Zuko planned for him. He had so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to try to talk to her more about what had happened the night in Osaiya, and he was hoping that it wouldn't turn into a regrettable conversation. And if it didn't, maybe it meant that he could take his relationship with her to the next level.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He pictured her in his head underneath him, her naked body sweating from the pleasure he had given her. "Katara…" He whispered. He opened his eyes again. She wasn't ready for it, he thought to himself. Though she was clearly enjoying what they shared that night, it was obvious that she was scared the whole tim. Did she regret what happened? He frowned at the thought. Of course he would wait or her till she was ready. If she wished it, he would wait till marriage. Then his eyes widened at his sudden thought.

Marriage.

He turned and went back into his room. He opened the top drawer of his dresser and opened the pouch with the stones in it. He pulled out the one that he had picked out for Katara and stared at it. It was a beautiful, cerulean blue color, slightly darker than Sokka's stone. It was about 2/3 the size of his own hand. It had a shimmer to it, like there were tiny diamonds in it. The rock was so beautiful the way it was that he almost didn't want to carve it.

He put the pouch down, his stone still in his hand, and walked over to his bed and sat down and stared at it more. There was not a single doubt in his mind that he wanted to marry this girl. But did she feel the same about him? They had only officially started dating, but they loved each other long before. And she was going to be 16 years old soon, the age for marriage. He smiled at the thought of her birthday being so close to his. It was only a week away. There would probably be a celebration for her too, being her 16th and all. Of course, although she was his, there would be a swarm of love struck boys around her. And of course, Katara's father would be there…

Perfect.

He smiled again, got up, put the stone back in the pouch and put it back in the drawer. He walked out of his room, heading to the dining hall to get himself some breakfast. All the while, he was thinking up designs in his head for the precious stone that he would be carving that night.


	6. Birthday Party

Katara stared out at the view from her balcony, thinking about and getting excited about her date with Aang. She was supposed to have a date with him the day before, but Sokka just had to go and steal Aang for the day. It was ok though, it was for Suki. She didn't know what to think of her brother getting married. But she knew he loved Suki and she would happily accept his betrothal necklace.

Then she wondered. Maybe, just maybe, Aang decided to seek out a stone for a necklace for her while he was there with Sokka. She blushed at the thought and shook her head. How silly of her to think that. He wouldn't be thinking about marriage with her, they had just finally got their feelings out. He wouldn't… would he?

She sighed in spite of herself. She went to her dresser and pulled out her bath robe. She slipped off her night robe and hesitantly looked at her own naked flesh in the mirror. There was a heated sensation coming over her as she remembered that night with Aang. Feeling embarrassed, she covered her breasts with her arms. It happened because of the drug in Aang's tea that she ended up drinking. He described the drug to her, but said the effects wear off after she climaxed. But it didn't. She still wanted more even after it. Was it really not because of the drug, but her own desire instead? She wondered then if she was going to experience things like that with him again. Was she willing to take that step forward with him?

The thought made her shiver with excitement. She wanted to, but she was far from being brave enough to tell him so.

She put on her bath robe and headed into her private bathroom to wash up. The warm water felt good on her skin, despite how warm the weather was. She thought back to that night again, and how she felt when Aang touched her in the most sensual way a guy could touch a woman. She took a deep breath and let it out softly as she slipped her hand down between her legs.

Iroh was up early as usual, making breakfast and tea for everyone. Aang and Sokka were there first, then came Toph (Haru had left that morning to go home for a short while) and Suki, and then Katara was last. Her cheeks pinkened when she saw Aang, shirtless. She had seen his bare chest before, in all its sexy glory, but it made her feel awkward after what she was just fantasizing about a little while ago.

"Happy birthday, Aang!" She said as she sat down next to him.

"What, not birthday present for your boyfriend?" Toph asked with a smirk.

"I do have one" Katara said in a sarcastic defensive tone. "I'm just giving it to him later."

"It's a kiss, isn't it?" Toph giggled. "It's ok, Katara, you can give it to him now if you want. I won't look."

Everyone laughed and Katara blushed. Aang smiled sweetly at her and went for and held her hand under the table. She looked up at him and smiled back.

Later, after breakfast, the couple met in the palace courtyard in front of the palace. Aang was there first, but he didn't have to wait for very long. He decided not to wear his monk robe today. Because today, he wasn't an airbender monk, he wasn't the Avatar, he was just Aang. He wore a sleeveless fire nation tunic with his usual style of trousers that went down past his knees and nice boots to go along. He picked this outfit out because it had more orange and yellow in it than fire red.

Katara came out wearing a high cut top, showing a bit of her stomach. It didn't have sleeves, but it had straps that went around her neck to hold it in place. She wore pants that were similar to Aang's. They went down just past her knees and were baggy all the way down and held tight to her leg at the very end. And to finish it off, she wore small, flat black sandals with straps that went around her ankle.

Aang smiled from ear to ear as she approached him. He reached out his hand to her. "Shall we get going?"

She nodded and took his hand.

They walked down the streets of the markets, hand in hand, enjoying themselves. Katara loved the feel of his hand holding hers. It gave her a feeling of comfort and protection.

They looked around at stands selling jewelry, stands selling fancy weapons and nick nack gifts. They found a few pieces of clothing they liked, trying to pick things with as little red as possible. It wasn't that they didn't like the color red, it just brought back bad memories sometimes.

Something caught Katara's eye that was folded on a table with some other clothes. It caught her eye because it was blue. She walked over to the table, picked it up, and unfolded it to reveal what it was. She gasped. It was a dress. The top part of the dress was in the style of a corsage, tight in the breasts and stomach area, then right above the hips the tight material formed a slight v shape doing down over the stomach. The skirt part was layers of silky material with beautiful hues of blues. A thin mesh layer that curtained the sides of the skirt part and went down to the floor with the longest layers was littered with little sparkling stones. It was breath taking. And it looked as though it would fit her perfectly.

She didn't care how much it was, she had to have it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The man running the stand asked her. She turned to face him. "Since the war has ended, some merchants like myself are expanding our trade to the Water Tribes. That is my only piece of clothing that is of the tribes, but soon you will be seeing a lot more clothing and other things of trade in the markets that come from the Water Tribes."

Katara wasn't too surprised by the information she had gotten. It made sense that since the war was over now, trading would be expanded to the tribes and the Earth Kingdom cities. She negotiated a price, using her 'I want it for my 16th birthday next week' trump card. Aang came up to her then as she finished her deal and had the dress boxed up. He had been looking at some clothing for guys at another stall and suddenly didn't see Katara anymore and went looking for her.

"Sorry." She said. "But I saw this dress over here and I just had to have it."

"Really? I want to see it!"

"Um, well… I'm having it boxed up now and they are going to have it sent to the palace for me. You can see it next week on my birthday!" She gave him a sweet smile.

Aang frowned. "Well, are you gonna pick something out to wear tonight? Uh, I mean, not saying that what you are wearing isn't nice! You look beautiful in everything you wear! You would look good even in rags! Um, not saying that I think what you wear is rags… uh…"

Katara couldn't hold back from giggling. He blushed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "It's ok, Aang. I know what you're saying. It's a special occasion tonight, I want to pick something out to wear tonight too."

After looking around more, she found a beautiful yellow dress that Aang was drooling over. It had thin straps and was a bit tight on the chest and stomach area, but it wasn't a corsage style like the other dress she picked out. The skirt part was the same material as the rest of the dress, not divided by wraps or straps or belts like some dresses she'd worn before. It had a separate piece that was like a thin belt of pearls that lay over the hips. It had a mesh drape that, when wearing it with the dress, drapes over the sides, over her hips and down to the ground at the same length of the dress. Aang insisted on buying t for her, but she refused to let him since it was his birthday. They had it wrapped up and sent to the palace.

After they were done shopping, the couple ate lunch at a small restaurant, then walked down a path where they found a bridge over a small river. They stopped at the center of the bridge and looked out at the view of the running river and a small family of turtle ducks playing around in the water. It was nice and quiet there, since they were out of the town and in the country side now.

They both suddenly felt awkward, not knowing what to say. Aang kept thinking all day that he wanted to come up with an approach to the subject that was weighing on both of their minds, but he never came up with one. He noticed she was nervous as well.

He sighed, then looked at Katara with a sad expression. "Katara, I…" He was struggling with his words.

Katara looked at him, worried. "What's wrong?"

"I just… I wanted to apologize again for… that night." He blushed.

"It's ok, Aang. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. I should have controlled myself better. But I was… just so completely lost in the moment with you and I didn't want to stop."

"It's ok, really." She put her hand on his shoulder. She wanted to tell him that it was ok because she wanted it too, and that she was willing to let it happen again, but she couldn't possibly. He seemed so against it, but was it for her sake?

She sighed. "Aang, I don't regret it happening, not at all." His eyes widened and turned his head to her and he met her gaze. She realized from the relief in his expression that that was what was bothering him. He noticed her blush, and he smiled, his fears slowly beginning to drain away.

"I guess that makes me feel a little better about it." He said. He took hand into his and brought it up to his lips and kissed it. The sweet gesture surprised her a little. He looked up at her again. "I don't ever want to anything to hurt you."

She smiled at him. "I know."

She stepped in closer to him and moved herself into his embrace. Her hads were on his chest, then she moved them around him and hugged him back. "We should probably head back to the palace now." She said regrettably.

Aang groaned. "Yeah, you're probably right. Though I just what to stay right here."

After a little while longer, they finally let go. He held her hand in his as they walked back down the path and headed back to their temporary home.

Katara and Aang were walking up the very large stair way to the palace courtyard and they heard voices up ahead. When they reached the top, they saw some old friends of their standing in the walkway, talking with Zuko. Pip-squeak, Smellerbee, The Duke and...

"Is that JET?" Katara asked.

The said boy turned his head at the sound of Katara's voice and smiled in her direction. They hadn't seen him since they defeated the Dai Lee's leader at Lake Laogai. They hadn't heard from anyone about his condition, or if he was even ok. But there he was.

Aang felt a sudden knot in his stomach when he saw Jet. He was glad, of course, that his friend was alright. But he couldn't help to feel anxious.

Katara ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck in an embrace. The knot in Aang's stomach got a bit tighter and he fought back the urge to grind his teeth. "You're ok!" Katara said with excitement.

"Just a few broken bones, some being ribs, but not enough to take me down." Jet replied, being cocky about it.

The group made their way into the palace and found a lounging room to relax in. Jet explained to Aang and Katara about his run in with Zuko in Ba Sing Se and boasted about he knew all along the Zuko was from the Fire Nation, but mentioned how surprised he was to find out he was actually the prince. Jet was taken care of by a family in Ba Sing Se after the he was horribly injures he gained from the battle they fought, and Pip-squeak and the group got in contact with him a few months ago. And since the group was now in the circle of friends, they got invites to the Avatar's birthday party at the Royal Fire Nation Palace.

"Soooo…" Aang started. "Exactly who all did you invite?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I got everyone you know to come." Zuko replied.

"Like?"

"Well, let's see…" Zuko thought for a moment. "These four here, the Kyoshi warriors, the smelly weirdoes from the swamp, almost everyone from the Northern Air Temple, Master Pakku and a few others you met in the Northern Water Tribe, and also everyone else from the Order of the White Lotus, the Water Tribe warriors you traveled with including Sokka and Katara's father, those earthbending freaks who I can't remember their names, but one was named Boulder I think… the list goes on, I can't remember everyone. I had Sokka's help coming up with all the names a few days ago. But pretty much everyone you know was invited."

Aang was almost too afraid to ask. "Did you…. Invite anyone from Osaiya? "

"Oh yeah, of course I invited the village elder and his kid. Well, granddaughter, whatever."

Aang and Katara look each other with worried expressions. They wouldn't come after what had happened, would they?

"Why? What's wrong?" Zuko asked, confused.

Aang sighed. "Nothing. I'll tell you about it later."

They never told Zuko about the discovery of Maiya being an airbender or what had happened in Osaiya. They figured Zuko would go to extremes and throw the old man and his granddaughter in prison or something. They just wanted to leave it be, but now things were going to get awkward.

"Ok then, but let's just enjoy ourselves tonight. Pretty soon, we have to go back to the annoying meetings and politics stuff. But since Katara's birthday is a week away, I'll try to hold it off till after. I'm gonna go get ready and prepare for tonight and head to the kitchens to make sure everything will be ready soon. Be at the main dining hall in about an hour."

Zuko walked out of the room and, speaking of awkward, Jet turned to Katara. "You're birthday is in a week, huh? What age are you gonna be? 17? 18?"

"16." Katara replied.

"16, huh?" He grinned. "I think I'll stick around for a while so I can be at your birthday party too."

Katara furrowed her eyebrows and grinned at him. He got up and walked out saying "See you guys in a little bit."

Aang was in the hall before Katara, and he made his way through the crowd, shaking hands and receiving happy birthdays from everyone. Gifts were wrapped and piled on a huge table against a wall in the back of the hall. Aang usually liked attention, but this much was making him embarrassed. And then he felt like his whole body suddenly became ten times heavier. There she was, Maiya.

"Happy birthday Aang!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"Maiya!" He pulled away from her. "You came…" He resisted the urge to frown and look depressed.

"Of course I did! I wouldn't refuse an invite to _your _birthday! I brought you a gift too! It's an outfit in the style that the mature boys in my town wear." She grinned slyly.

"Uh, thanks… I guess."

Sokka was stuffing his face when he turned and noticed who it was that Aang was talking to. His eyes bulged out in surprise. What the heck is _she _doing here? He quickly swallowed his food and ran to go find Zuko. When he found him talking to some people, he interrupted the conversation quickly. "Zuko, I need to talk to you. Right now."

Zuko seemed surprised by the urgency in Sokka's tone and excused himself.

"Why in the world did you invite Maiya? Is her grandfather here too?"

"Yes, why? What's the problem?"

Sokka's jaw dropped, then he smacked his forehead in frustration. "Aang didn't you. Of course he didn't. He's too nice for his own good."

Zuko expression hardened with an intense and questioning look.

"According to Lee Yun, Maiya is an airbender." Sokka explained.

This time, Zuko's jaw dropped. "WHAT?"

"Yeah, we didn't see her actually do any airbending though. Anyway, he tried to talk Aang into marrying Maiya and Aang refused to. Then they tried to drug him and force him to marry Maiya."

"Drug him? Like, make him incoherent and sigh a marriage document? or however they do it in the Eath Kingdom?"

"No. The drug would have made Aang rape Maiya."

Zuko's expression went from surprised to incredibly pissed off.

"They put it in Aang's tea, but he didn't drink it."

"Then… how did you guys find out about the drug if Aang didn't take it?"

"Actually…" Sokka hesitated and averted his eyes, irritation spread on his face. "Katara drank the tea."

Zuko's expression went back to being surprised. "Well… um… how did _that _all play out?"

"I'm not gonna repeat that part." Sokka grinded his teeth. "But I will say this, Aang said he managed to hold himself back, so Katara's virtue is still intact. Unless he's lying, which I know he wasn't cause I can tell. Just be aware that Lee Yun might not have given up on getting Aang to marry Maiya." Sokka gave him a stern look, and Zuko got what he meant.

Some of the kids that Aang knew from the Fire Nation school he attended for a day were there. They were the band playing the music for his party. Aang was happy about that, but what would make him more happy is if Maiya would leave him alone already.

Then finally, Aang saw Katara enter the hall wearing the beautiful dress he had picked out for her earlier that day. Aang gasped at how gorgeous she looked. "Sorry Maiya, I gotta go now."

Maiya grabbed his arm as he tried to make his escape. "Wait, where are you going?" She demanded.

"I'm going to my girlfriend now!" He told her with anger, almost yelling.

Her eyes widened and her grip loosened. Aang yanked his arm from her and ran towards Katara, leaving Maiya there.

Aang pushed his way through the crowd of people, trying to get to Katara, but Jet had made his way to Aang's finish line first. Aang peaked over the crowed to see his prize was being made an attempt on to be taken, so he rushed himself more.

"You look very lovely, Katara." Jet told Katara. She blushed and gave him her thanks. "Can I have a word with you, alone?"

"Um…" Katara looked confused. "Ok, I guess…"

When Aang made it through finally to where Katara was, she was no longer there. Aang looked around and didn't see her anymore.

Katara and Jet were standing in the hallway in front of the doors that led into the dining hall where the party was. Katara felt nervous being alone like that with Jet, considering their history and all.

"I've missed you a lot." He began. "I want to apologize again for what happened when we first met. I told you lies, but how I felt about you wasn't a lie."

Katara looked up at him, surprised. He took her hand in his and kissed it. She blushed and almost gasped with surprise. "Katara…" he continued, leaning himself towards her slowly. "Will you… be my girl?" He didn't even wait for her answer, he kept leaning his face in toward hers, but before he could kiss her, she pulled away from him and took back her hand. He looked hurt.

"Jet…" She averted her eyes from his gaze. "I'm in love."

When Katara looked back at him, he was blushing furiously. She realized what it was he must be thinking, then quickly said. "No! Not you! I'm in love with someone else!"

"Oh!" He said surprised, then looked sad again.

"I'm sorry. I did have a little crush on you at one point, but that's all it was. Nothing more. What I have now is so very real, I don't want to be with anyone else but him."

Jet was silent, but eventually he nodded. She turned and opened the door to go back into the dining hall.

Aang, still looking for Katara, saw the door open and turned to see Katara walk back in with Jet behind her. His heart sank and jealousy had risen. He ran to her.

"Aang!" She said surprised when he made it over to her finally.

"Katara, I've been looking for you." He said with relief.

Jet hadn't even thought of who the guy was that Katara was talking about. He figured it was just some guy she met that he didn't even know. But seeing the way they looked at each other, how Aang took her hand and led her away, he realized it then. When he first met Aang, he was just some goofy kid. When he saw him again in Ba Sing Se, he looked the same but seemed he had matured a bit, but the thought still never crossed his mind. He always knew that Katara cared very dearly for him, but he had no idea how far that feeling would actually go. Aang wasn't a kid anymore, obviously. And since he was the Avatar, there was no way he could compete for Katara with him.

Jet sighed as he admitted defeat to himself.

Zuko laughed to himself as he watched the whole scene from the side and saw the expression on Jet's face as Aang took Katara away. He was off to the side, alone. Mai was talking with Tai Lee and some other girls. Just then, Zuko turned his head and saw Lee Yun as he approached him.

"Fire Lord Zuko." He said respectfully and gave a sight bow.

Zuko wanted to give him a scowl instead of a head nod because of what he had heard, but he decided against it. "Lee Yun. How have you been?"

"Well enough, for an old man." He chuckled.

They stood there, drinks in hand, watching out at the party. After a while, Lee Yun broke their silence."I'm not sure if you were told this, but my daughter is an airbender."

Zuko looked at him. "That's… unusual."

"Yes, it's a miracle actually, that after a few generations, an airbender would come about in her bloodline."

Zuko just continued to listen, not saying anything, but just stared at him, waiting for him to say more.

"I asked Aang to teach her, and he accepted my request. I thought maybe, since I was here for his birthday, I could stay a couple of days so he could train her."

Zuko thought for a moment. "That would be fine. Although my guest rooms are full tonight. I'm sure I can find you a nice inn close to the palace to stay in."

"Thank you," He replied. "You know, my granddaughter and Aang the only airbenders in the world. I think we should have a bit of a talk about the future of the airbenders an..."

"That won't be necessary." Zuko interrupted. Lee Yun couldn't hold back his surprise. "I know what it is you are trying to do, Lee Yun. And it's not going to work. Just because I'm the Fire Lord doesn't mean I have control over Aang's destiny. He is free to do what he wants, and I can't. nor anyone else, make his future for hm. He won't marry your granddaughter, so just give it up."

Lee Yun became furious. "Why you…."

"I know what you did." Zuko cut him off again. "You must know, however, that Aang and I are very close. He's like a brother to me, which practically makes him a prince you could say. So, you mess with Aang, then you're messing with royalty. And if you mess with the royalty of the Fire Nation, your prison life will be much more miserable than any other crime committed."

Filled with rage, the old man stormed off. Zuko didn't even turn to watch him walk away. He continued to stare out at the crowd, a smile spreading out on his face.

The rest of the evening went on without any more conflict or unpleasant events. Aang and Katara spent the rest of the party together, talking with friends and danced together. With each passing moment he spent with Katara, we wanted more and more to have that betrothal necklace made already and in his pocket, because the urge to break down and ask her to marry him was becoming greater and greater. He hadn't thought before that it was possible to love her any more than he did, but he was definitely wrong.

The couple were again surrounded by friends and everyone was engaged in conversation when Katara looked up and noticed Aang's daydreaming stare towards her. She smiled at him as a thought ran through her mind. Her hands went up to his face and placed one on each of his cheeks, then gently dragged his face to hers and closed the gap with a kiss on his lips. His first reaction was surprise, he didn't even notice that she had looked up at him and grabbed his head till her lips were on his. While his dumbfounded look was still on his face, everyone started to cheer and holler, then he recovered, closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace while he return the kiss. It had been the first time they had kissed in front of other people, and it felt so exciting to him, like he was announcing to the world that this gorgeous water tribe woman was all his.

The party was over soon after. Everyone said their goodnights and goodbyes. Before they left the hall, Zuko pulled Aang side.

"I don't think you'll be needing to worry about the little airbender girl anymore." Zuko told Aang.

"What? How… how did you….?" Aang stuttered. "Ah geez, Sokka has such a big mouth."

Zuko laugh. "He was looking out for you. He saw the girl giving you trouble, then informed me about…" Zuko hesitated, and then blushed. "Uh, about what happened." Aang's face turned bright red and he slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand and rubbed it heavily down his face in frustration.

"Well, at any rate," Zuko continued. "I don't think they will be giving you any more trouble. I had a few words with the grandfather and got him to back off."

Aang was silent for a moment, then sighed and looked up at Zuko and smiled tiredly. "Thanks Zuko."

Zuko smiled back at his friend. "No problem. But I do have some bad news.

"Uh… and what would that be?"

"We've got some council meetings coming up in the next week, starting with one tomorrow. Some leaders of the countries will be joining in and we will be making some new adjustments in our peace treaties and some other important things. I made sure, though, that Katara's birthday will be uninterrupted. Her father's fleet will be sailing in here in just a couple of days and staying until after her birthday celebration. And Aang. "Zuko paused and waited for Aang to look up at him. "You better be careful. There may be a lot of young eager boys here in the next week that have their eyes set on a certain beautiful war hero that is about to be of marrying age."

Aang rolled his eyes. "You think I should be questioning Katara's faith in me?"

"No, but you never know with boys these days and their desperation for a woman. I know she's strong and can take care of herself, but…" Zuko shrugged. "You never know."

After Aang had said his goodnights to his friends and his girlfriend, he went into his room, closed the door and plopped himself onto his bed. He laid there for a moment, not moving, then turned to look at his dresser. He eventually got himself up and walked to the dresser. He opened up the top drawer and retrieved his stone from the draw string pouch. He looked it over, going over design ideas in his head he had pondered over until he came up with the perfect design for his necklace.

He didn't know how much time had passed by the time he was finished. He was very careful when he earthbended the stone, making sure to not ruin the natural beauty of the stone. When he was finished, he stared at it for a long time, admiring the work he had done. It was in the shape of a heart. The left side bore the water tribe symbol, while the left had the air nomads symbol, and the symbols laced downward to the bottom peak of the heart shaped stone where they came together intertwined.

Aang smiled to himself. He didn't want to stop looking at it. He was so excited about giving her the necklace, but then a sudden fear fell over him. Would she say yes? Or would she not be ready? What if she wasn't even sure she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, knowing she would have to travel around a lot and give up a lot to be with him? The questions flooded his mind. He shook his head as if to rid his head of the plaguing thoughts. He laid there on his bed, continuing his loving stare at the stone. His eyes were growing heavier and heavier, until he finally closed his eyes and almost instantly fell asleep, holding the heart shaped stone in his hand.

*** Yes, I did it. I brought Jet back. Well they never said in the series that he was actually dead. I just don't think that it was fair that only Katara had competition and not Aang too. I don't think I'll be putting him in the story any more after this, or Maiya for that matter.I dunno though, I might keep Maiya around a little longer. No sure about some things. Who knows, they might both have a come back. I do, however, have most of the next chapter done and the next after that. Next one should be VERY GOOD! Unless I switch tweak with the order in which the events happen (again). Please review and let me know what you think!***


	7. Permission To Ask

*** I had a difficult time coming up with a name for this chapter. Hope you enjoy it!***

The next couple of days were somewhat depressing for the young couple in love. Aang was busy with his annoying important meetings, and Katara went with Sokka, Suki, Toph and some other friends to a neighboring city to help do repairs caused by the war. It was good, Katara thought, to keep busy so that she wouldn't be constantly thinking about Aang and missing him and thinking about… well, inappropriate things. She knew she was completely inexperienced and she wasn't provided with much education when it came to the relationship between a guy and a girl. And, unfortunately, it seemed the working didn't help a whole lot in keeping her mind too occupied for thoughts of Aang.

The group returned to the palace after a day's work by late afternoon. Katara desperately wanted a bath and asked Suki and Toph to join her. Toph declined, but Suki happily went. It was fine that Toph didn't join, Katara thought, because she wouldn't be able to provide advice for the kind of girl talk that Katara was in need of over the past couple of days but didn't have the chance to have yet.

The girls set themselves into the relaxing hot water in the palace's giant bath house. Katara hadn't used it very much during her stay there, she usually just used the bath in her own room. She noticed that Suki still didn't have a water tribe necklace around her neck and wondered when the heck her dumb brother was gonna give it to her. Maybe he did but she just didn't want to wear it around while working, and of course not wear it while bathing. She wasn't about to ask and ruin the surprise if she was wrong. She had other things on her mind to talk about anyway.

"So…" Suki began. "I know you've got some things you wanna talk about."

Katara looked up at her, blushing. "How… could you tell?"

"Katara, I'm a girl in love too, remember? It's written all over your face." She giggled.

Katara looked down at the water and lowered herself into the water more until she was all submerged but her eyes and up.

"I know it's frustrating, but Zuko did say that he'll have some time to play during your birthday. Council meets don't happen _all _the time, it's just that when there are some, there are a lot and they are all very close together, one right after another."

"Actually, I wanted to talk about something else." Katara said shyly, looking back up at Suki.

"Aaaahh." Suki said with a huge grin on her face. "You want to talk about _that_ stuff." Suki giggled again as Katara's embarrassment showed even more across her face. "Well, have you… you know...? With Aang?"

"What? No! Of course now, but… but stuff happened." Katara gave Suki a little more detailed explanation than Aang gave to Sokka about what had happened that night in Osaiya. Some moments during the conversation, Suki gasped in anger, and some she gasped in surprise. Katara even managed to make Suki blush from embarrassment.

"That's… amazing! I can't believe he held himself back so well." Suki said after the details were all given.

"What do you mean?"

"Um, Katara have you had much education about sex before?"

"No, not much." Katara looked ashamed of herself. "I guess I was supposed to at a certain age, but I've been a bit busy ever since Aang sort of came out of an iceberg and landed himself right into my life." Katara smiled warmly at the thought.

"Well from the sound of it, Aang has had his education, though I'm not sure if monks would have taught him anything about this stuff at that age. I wouldn't be surprised if during his 6 months being with Zuko at sea he had plenty of time for guy talk, and in parts of those talks came the topic of sex."

"Soo…." Katara hesitated. "Have you?" Suki looked at her with flushed cheeks and averted her eyes from Katara's. "What's it like? Oh gosh don't even say anything about Sokka , cause he's my brother and it'll be disgusting to hear about him doing…. that stuff!Just sorta pretend that it was with some other guy that I don't know… or something."

Suki laughed, then thought for a moment. "It hurts at first. A lot." Katara furrowed her eyebrows. "But you're so… I don't know, caught up in the moment that it almost doesn't matter. I heard that the bigger the guy is, the more it hurts. Well, that would make sense though, right? You can't really tell how big they actually hard until they get hard. Some girls like them to be bigger, though."

"Bigger?" Katara asked, looking confused.

"You know… their penis."

Katara's eyes went wide. She remembered feeling the big hard bulge in Aang's pants that night. It made her feel a bit strange and scared, and now she realized why. She was almost too afraid and too embarrassed to ask the next question. "And… why does this size matter so much?"

Suki searched her mind for the right words to describe it, but she finally just let it out bluntly. "When you have sex with him, he's going to put his penis inside of you. In the hole between your legs."

Katara's jaw almost completely dropped. "I... I-I knew that, geez." Katara stuttered. "Kinda anyway. But… that won't fit in me!"

"So you saw it?" Suki asked.

"No… but I felt it."

"Oh! You failed to mention _that_ part in your story. Considering that you are very inexperienced, that was really brave of you."

"No! Not with my hand! He… rubbed up against my leg." Katara touched her hand to her thigh, remembering the scene again as she explained it to Suki."

"Aw Katara, I'm sure you'll be fine. After the pain passes, it will begin to feel wonderful."

Katara was about to ask how long till the pain passes and ask her for more details, but she was interrupted by a very loud bang coming from somewhere in the palace. Both the girls jumped in surprise.

"What the? What was THAT?" Suki asked.

The girls looked at each other, and Katara shrugged.

In a furious rage, Aang blew open the giant doors of the council meeting room and stormed out. Zuko ran after him.

"Aang wait!" Zuko called out as he ran after him.

"No! These people are crazy! They aren't listening to me and don't care about how I feel about their stupid subject that has to do with my own personal life!"

"Aang, they don't _know_ your personal life. They're just… making suggestions that they think are important."

"No, they seemed to have their ideas for my life pretty planned out! And they are trying to force it on me!"

"Well, they just think they know what's best for recreating the airbender race."

"Oh that's really nice of them." Aang said in a very exaggerated and angry tone. "But a harem? They're saying they want me to be with multiple women and have kids with all of them! There is no WAY that I'll EVER do something like that!"

"Then tell them that."

"I'm TRYING! They're not listening to me! Why do you think I just walked out of there?"

"Well, it's more like you went up in a thunderstorm rage and air slammed the door open and bolder stomped your way out. I'm sure after all that, they are pretty shaken up and are ready to listen now."

It took Aang a couple of more minutes to get himself composed enough to walk back into that hell room, as Aang put it. When he and Zuko were all the way in the room, Aang slammed the doors shut behind him with his airbending, making sure he still had everyone's attention on him.

"Sorry, but it's NOT happening!" Aang said very loudly in an angry tone. "So what if I don't have 30 kids, there will still be airbenders in this world. I believe the great spirits have a plan and they won't let airbenders completely disappear from this world. I WILL get married, and I WILL have kids, and they WILL be airbenders! It will be with one woman, and only one woman, that I love with all my heart! And I plan to have that betrothal necklace around her neck by the end of the week!"

Nearly everyone gasped and stared at Aang, especially Zuko. Aang had just realized what he just said and thanked the spirits that Hakoda wasn't in the room because he was not coming into port with his fleet for a couple of more hours. Aang's announcement even left a surprised look on his own face.

"Aang…" Zuko said softly. "You're going to ask Katara to marry you?"

Aang was looking down at the table while his while the palms of his hands were set flat on it and he rested all his wait on those hands. He loosened up, took in a deep breath and let it out. Then he looked up at his friend and smiled warmly at him as he nodded.

Aang then turned back the other people at the table in front of him. "This stays here, and no one, and I mean NO ONE, is to say a thing to anyone else outside of this room. And if I do hear from someone and find out that this information has been leaked, I don't care how important you are, I will find everyone of you and freeze you all in one giant block of ice and throw you into the southern seas."

They all looked shocked and scared, then nodded and gave their word to keep their mouths shut.

"What was that loud sound?" Katara asked Sokka as the two girls approached him in the hall.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I heard someone say that Aang got mad about something and threw a fit." Sokka replied.

Katara felt a sudden bad chill run through her body. What was going on? What happened that made him so mad? She had no idea what it could have possibly been, but she was now worried.

Later that evening, Aang came up to his room, closed himself in and plopped himself onto his bed. It had been a long few days and he felt emotionally drained. After resting himself for a while, he pushed himself up and went to his dresser and took out the necklace. He had finished it the night before by fastening the stone to a beautifully woven piece of leather. Her birthday is only 3 more days away, he thought to himself.

There was a knock at the door, and Aang quickly stuffed his necklace back into the lonely pouch and into the drawer. Sokka had retrieved his stone from Aang just the day before. And just as Aang closed the drawer, Sokka himself opened the door and walked in. First thing Sokka noticed was that Aang suddenly looked a bit nervous and was trying to hide it, then he noticed Aang's close proximity to his dresser. Sokka had a thoughtful look on his face as he glared at Aang, and Aang smiled at him nervously.

"Alright, let me see it!" Sokka finally said.

"Uh… see what?" Aang asked, almost breaking a sweat.

Sokka closed the door behind him and walked closer to Aang. "Come on, Aang, don't act dumb. Let me see the necklace."

Aang stared at Sokka a little longer, his resolve obviously draining from him. Aang sighed and pulled out the pouch and handed it over. Sokka opened the pouch and gasped as he pulled it out. He turned it this way and that, admiring its beauty and the skill Aang worked into it. "You're going to propose on her birthday, aren't you?"

Aang was looking away from Sokka's gaze, then he looked up at his friend. "Not without your father's permission first."

Sokka's expression softened and he smiled. "Well, now's probably your best chance. He's right outside in the courtyard talking with Zuko, and Katara hasn't come back from the city with Suki and Toph yet."

Aang looked up at Sokka, a grin spreading over his face. "Thanks Sokka!" He said excitedly. He took the necklace and pouch from Sokka, ran to the back of his room and onto the balcony, then jumped off the ledge and airbended himself safely onto the ground of the courtyard and ran off.

It wasn't hard to find them, with Aang's sense of the earth through his feet. When he reached Zuko and Hakoda, the guys looked at him with surprise.

"Aang! How have you been" Hakoda asked warmly.

"I'm doing well, thanks. I'm so glad you're here now, because I need to have a word with you."

Zuko knew exactly what was going on. "Ok, well I'm going to go find Mai and have some desert with her before I head to bed. I'll see you both in the morning."

After Zuko walked off, Aang suddenly found himself in a very difficult situation. What was he thinking? Approaching Katara's father without even thinking of what he was going to say and how he was going to approach the subject."

Hakoda saw the worry and frustration on Aang's face. "Are you alright, son?"

Son. Aang almost smiled happily to the gesture the man had just made to him. And Hakoda still had no idea. It helped Aang ease up a little. He finally started. "Well, sir you see…. I've…." Aang raked his brain for the words. "I've… um…"

Hakoda looked confused and worried, then he put a hand on Aang's shoulder. "What is it?" He asked in his gentle fatherly voice.

Aang lost all his composure and just blurted it out. "I'm in love with Katara!"

The announcement seemed to shock Hakoda. "Oh really?" Hakoda replied with a different look of confusion on his face. "Does she know this?"

"Yes, she does. I've told her so a few times. And… well… she loves me too." Aang looked shyly up at the man. "I've always loved Katara, since the moment I first met her."

"I can't say I'm surprised. I saw the way you looked at her." Hakoda grinned proudly. His show of humor and lack of 'I'm gonna kill you' type of father instincts made Aang feel just a little better, but not completely.

Aang was nearly shaking, but he managed to pull out the necklace. "I want to give her this." Aang said as he handed it to Hakoda.

The man looked just a little shocked as he took the necklace. He looked it over and then looked back at Aang.

"I love her more than anything else." Aang continued. "I would give her the world if it was mine. But…" Aang paused for a moment. "If she says yes, it might mean taking her away from her family. I'm the Avatar, and I still have my duty to the world, and the world isn't completely rid of the chaos from war just yet. I want so much to live with her and have a family with her and make her the happiest woman in the world. I promise I will try my hardest, but… but I can't promise that I'll completely succeed." Aang looked down in embarrassment, wishing so much that he would have rehearsed this beforehand. But it was too late now, he couldn't turn back. "Hakoda, sir, even knowing this, will you please grant me permission to ask Katara to marry me?"

There was a long pause as Hakoda stood there, staring at Aang. Though he didn't show it much, Aang could tell the man was thinking. Then finally, Hakoda smiled to him. "You didn't ask for her hand in marriage." He said to the airbender. Aang looked at him, confused.

"You didn't ask for permission to marry her, you asked for permission to 'ask her' to marry you." Hakoda said. Aang's confusion left his face, and Hakoda continued. "I can tell you love her very much, but I can also see that you think only of her and want what she wants and needs. No man is perfect and can give the woman he loves everything that he wants to give her, but I believe that you will try with all you have to love her and give her happiness." Hakoda chuckled. Then looked at Aang with tears holding in his eyes as he took in the precious moment of a man approaching him out of love for his only daughter "Of course you have my permission to 'ask her', Aang. And I will be more than happy to call you my son-in-law."

*** Okaaaaaay...Things are slowly coming together, and I plan to bring you a bushel of lemons soon! Thank you guys for your reviews! I love to read them! It makes me happy that I'm writing something that others enjoy! It's an exciting feeling =D And I totally agree with the overprotective brother thing being annoying. Anyway, there is only 3 days left until Katara's birthday! Let's see what kind of mischief Maiya can cook up with having Aang teach her airbending (evil smile).***


	8. I Want You

*** I hope you guys love this chapter as much as I do!***

Katara shut the door behind her after she walked into her room. She walked over to her closet to put the outfit away that she bought while she was out with Suki and Toph. The beautiful blue dress she bought a few days ago when she was with Aang was hanging up, and Katara pulled it out and looked at it. A smile crept up alone her face as she looked lovingly at it. I wonder if I should go see Aang right now, she wondered. He might be asleep though.

Just as she was putting the dress back up, she heard a thud sound coming from her window. She jumped with surprise and quickly turned to see Aang coming through her window.

"Geez Aang, you scared me!" Katara exhaled out.

"Sorry." Aang apologized with a cheesy grin. "I was in the courtyard and saw Toph, so I figured you'd be here. Then when I saw your window was opened, I thought I'd jump in and see you."

Katara rolled her eyes and couldn't hold back a smile. Then she remembered something. "Hey, what was that loud noise earlier? It sounded like a bomb exploded or something. Sokka said that someone said it was you."

"Oh, that…" Aang looked embarrassed and was caught off guard by her question. He couldn't tell her exactly what happened and tell her what he had said to them in his rage. "Well… the meeting was getting annoying because they kept making all these suggestions and not even listening to what I had to say about them, and they had to do with me. So I made a big scene to get their attention." Aang lied just a little. It was more or less the truth, just adding in the last bit considering what Zuko said earlier about shaking up the council members.

Katara laughed. Aang felt relieved when she didn't question him more about the things they were talking about during the meeting. He loved the sound of her laugh, it made him feel so happy even after a horrible day. He reached out for her and drew her into his embrace. Katara felt her chest flutter, then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back.

They stood there for a while, not saying anything. Aang thought about his conversation with Hakoda and how he had told Aang that he was happy to call him son-in-law. It made Aang's smile grow at the thought. And Sokka, one of his two best friends, would be his brother-in-law. But this was, of course, only if Katara said yes to his proposal when he presented her with the necklace on her birthday. He felt his happiness start to sink a little, and he pulled away to look at the girl he was holding.

"Katara." Aang said softly. "The meetings will be over soon, and after your birthday, I may have to be traveling around again for a little while. There are still things to be done and a lot of healing that is needed in a lot of the cities that were wrecked by the war. I'm not going to be able to stay here forever, and I don't know how long I'm going to be traveling for."

Katara was looking up at him with understanding. She knew this was going to happen, she knew that he wouldn't be able to stay in one place for too long. She lowered her eyes. "I know." She brought him closer again and hugged him, feeling as though he was slipping away from her. He held her, trying with all his might to push his fears aside and ask her his selfish question. He felt heat rising up in his eyes and held his tears back. After a moment longer, he pulled himself away just slightly and looked her in the eyes, his face very close to hers.

"Come with me."

Katara felt her heart beat harder for a second after the words left his mouth. She stared at him wide eyed. She saw the pleading and need for her in his expression as he looked back at her. She didn't expect him to be asking her to go with him, but she didn't even need to think about her answer. Her face softened and she smiled. "Of course I'll go with you!" She said quietly but with excitement. Aang closed his eyes and let out the breath he was holding in. He opened his eyes again and looked at her. He placed a kiss on her lips and held her tighter. He couldn't believe it. He was so happy to hear her say that she would go with him. He wouldn't have to be without her. She traveled with him for a long time before the war ended, and it was for a specific purpose: to help Aang become a fully realized Avatar and to defeat Firelord Ozai. Katara went with him originally to go to the Northern Water Tribe to learn waterbending, and then she became Aang's waterbending teacher. Of course their friendship and love for each other was there, but they had a purpose that was much greater. And now, even though it was still to help others, Katara was going to travel with him for the purpose of being with him.

He brought his hand to her cheek and broke the kiss. "I don't want to be away from you anymore. I want you to always be with me. I know it's selfish of me to ask this of you, but I just… I can't..."

"I know Aang." Katara interrupted his stuttering. "I feel the same. I don't want to be separated from you. I feel like you're a big part of my life now, and without you in it… I don't know, I just don't feel complete."

Aang kissed her again. It was more forceful than before, and he deepened the kiss by parting her lips with his and pushing his tongue in to meet hers. Their breathing became heavier, and Aang scaled her back with his hands.

Katara suddenly realized their situation and where exactly they were. They were alone in her room. Her heart beat went faster, pounding in her chest. Aang could feel her pulse rising hard and then, too, realized their setting. His desires were taking over his better judgment and he began to wonder again if she was willing to let him take that next with her. He was getting hard and his pants got tighter in his lap area. Katara pressed herself against him more and she felt the bulge in his pants on her thigh, and very close to her womanhood. She pulled away from his body slightly and broke from the kiss and looked up at him. She didn't say anything, but fear that she would say something out of fear of their situation made him back away. "I should go back to my room now. I have to wake up pretty early again."

Katara felt disappointed, but she nodded. "K, I'll see you tomorrow then." She said.

"Ok, goodnight Katara."

She walked with him to her door and let him out. She gave him a sweet, warm smile before she closed the door. When Aang got back to his room, he closed the door then lay down on his bed. It was better this way, he thought to himself. He wanted so badly to physically be as close to her as possible, but he wanted to wait until she at least accepted his proposal. He then imagined her, eyes heavily lidded and breathing hard as he looked down at her from above her. She was completely naked, save for a lovely heart-shaped water tribe betrothal necklace around her neck. Her soft, darkly tanned skin was covered in beads of sweat as she moaned out his name.

"Katara…" He whispered to the air above him. He slid his hand down into his pants and took hold of himself. As he stroked himself, the image of his beautiful woman remained there in his mind. And in Katara's mind there was Aang, raised up over her by his strong arms, looking down at her with lust in his eyes. She wanted to know what it would be like to be so intimate with Aang, but she was afraid. Katara was a virgin and didn't know how to be intimate and she didn't know what to expect and what it was going to feel like. Even though Aang had seen her naked now, she was still too shy to let him see her like that… well, again anyway. She kept picturing Aang in her head doing things to her that just a couple of months ago was so alien to her. Maybe that's why it scared her so much. But still she wanted him. She wanted to feel that closeness with him. She sighed and turned to lie on her side, attempting to fall asleep.

Aang never anticipated that the old jerk would actually take up his offer and have him teach his granddaughter airbending. When Aang had ended early with his meetings that day, he was about to go see Katara when he was stopped by Zuko with the regrettable request.

"They went back home after your birthday, but they just came back this morning." Zuko had told him. He didn't turn them away since Lee Yun insisted that Aang had agreed to teach Maiya, even though Aang really didn't want to.

Now Aang was on the palace training grounds outside in the central courtyard. Maiya was instructed to not wear a dress, like she usually does, and she was struggling with wearing her tunic and pants. Pretty much her whole life, she wore dresses. Pants were foreign to her.

"You're never gonna learn anything if you keep fidgeting with your clothes." Aang said annoyingly.

"I just don't see how people can wear this stuff." Maiya complained.

"Well, tough, just deal with it. I won't feel like you are taking your training seriously if you're wearing a dress."

Maiya looked up at him and grinned. "Aah, so you mean to say that you wouldn't be able to concentrate with me looking so pretty?" She giggled.

"What? NO! You just…" Aang growled loudly in frustration and smacked his forehead with his palm and rubbed his face. "Can we just do this and get it over with?"

Aang spent a good while just trying to get Maiya in the right stance for the most basic airbending moves. She said she wasn't getting it right because of the clothes, but Aang knew it was because she wanted him to get close to her and move her arms for her. "If you can't even get this right, then I'm just gonna give up and you can learn it by yourself!" He finally said.

"Geez, Aang, lighten up will you?" Maiya said defensively.

Aang wanted to go off on her so bad, to yell at her and say she had no right to even be here with him having him train her after what she and her grandfather did. But he held his tongue and sighed. It was important that she knew how to do this, so he kept quiet and dealt with it for now.

He tried again with the stance, and she was still off. "No, no, no! Are you even listening?" He went behind her and repositioned her arms again. He didn't notice Katara walking into the courtyard and sitting herself down on the steps to watch them, and he didn't see the sly grin on Maiya's face when she saw Katara come outside.

"No, stop! That tickles!" She yelped out and jumped, startling Aang. She jerked hard and moved her foot behind Aang's ankle just as he was stepping back and he tripped and fell backwards. He attempted to bend the air below him to soften his impact, but Maiya's body crashing into his took him by surprise and the both landed hard on the ground, Maiya on top of him. Aang felt something slam onto his forehead when his back met the ground, and the impact nearly knocked him out. He was dizzy and his vision was blurry when he opened his eyes, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize that the impact was from Maiya's forehead. Her face was pressed up against his and her lips were right on his. Her plan worked, and she landed on him in just the position she was hoping for. Aang's strength suddenly all came back at once and he pushed the girl off of him.

"Ow!" She said as she landed on her backside. "Geez, first you trip me and now you're pushing me!" She lied.

"I tripped _you?_" Aang yelled in a rage. "YOU…" Aang stopped himself as he saw his girlfriend in the corner of his eye and turned to her. She was standing there, shocked at what she just saw. "Katara…."

She had no idea what to do or say, so she ran off. "Katara! Wait!" Aang was about to go after her but he was stopped by Maiya grabbing him and yanking him back.

"You can't just leave! You are supposed to be training me!"

"No! I'm done training you! You can't do anything right and you're constantly trying to mess up my relationship with Katara! I'm done trying to help you!"

Maiya's sudden anger showed clearly on her face. "Why you…. You can't talk to me like that!" She threatened as she stomped her foot on the ground.

Aang felt something as her foot went down, something that wasn't natural. He looked down at the ground, then looked back up at Maiya in awe. Maiya was taken off guard by his look of surprise.

"What's going on here?" Lee Yun's voice came from behind Aang. "What did you do to my granddaughter?

"Grandpapa, he kissed me!" She said in fake distress.

"What? No I didn't! You tripped me and fell on top of me! And it's obvious you did it on purpose!" Aang shot back at her. "I'm done here! You two can go back home. There's no need for me to even try to do this anymore."

"You're going back on your word?" The old man asked angrily.

"Maiya is a horrible listener, and I'm sick of how she acts with me. Her silly little crush has gone too far! And besides, she's not an airbender!"

Lee Yun's eyes shot wide open with anger. "How dare you say such…"

"I know for a fact she's not!" Aang interrupted him. "Because only the Avatar, me, can bend more than one element. And I just witnessed your granddaughter earthbend."

Lee Yun's jaw dropped and he looked at Maiya. "I didn't do such a thing!" She protested.

"Yes, you did. When you stomped your foot on the ground, I felt it. Your angry emotion sent a very faint tremor through the ground and shifted the earth very slightly, and it was done in a way that only an earthbender can do. I have the very best earthbending master as my teacher, and she is blind. She taught me to feel the earth and its vibrations so that I can see with feeling the earth."

The two just stared at him, neither one knowing what to say. Maiya suddenly broke out in a cry, and Lee Yun went to her and hugged her to comfort her.

"You may have mistaken what Maiya was doing a long time ago as airbending. Maybe she created a whirlwind of dirt or something and it looked like airbending…" Lee Yun's eyes widened and Aang then knew he had struck home. He sighed. "I'm done here. You two should go back home now."

And with that, Aang turned and ran in the direction that Katara ran off to.

Katara was panting for air when she finally stopped. She was by the large fountain in the palace garden, and she sat down on the grass under a tree. She sat there cross-legged, her elbows on her knees and her hands on her face. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. She couldn't believe what she saw. She knew very well that it was Maiya's scheming that made it happened, but the fact that Aang's lips had touched another woman's just made her heart break. It was as if something so sacred to her was now defiled.

She heard footsteps approach her and she looked up. It was Aang, standing over her and looking back down at her. Katara looked away. Aang's own heart was breaking at the sight of her looking so miserable because of him. He sat down next to her. For a moment, he didn't say anything, but then he reached out and took her hand.

"Katara…" He said softly. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't." She said suddenly, surprising him. "I saw the whole thing, so… I know it's not your fault. But…" She sighed. "You shouldn't have been out there with her in the first place."

Aang felt a pain in his chest. "Yes, I know. I should have just said no. I put myself in that situation, and I should've known better."

The sun was beginning to set now, the day saw nearing its end again. The day after tomorrow was Katara's birthday, and Aang had done something so careless and hurt the woman he loved, the woman he was getting ready to ask to be with him forever.

"We don't have to worry about them anymore." He finally said. "They're going home and won't bother us anymore. Turns out she's not an airbender after all. She's an earthbender."

Katara turned to him. "So… you're making them go home and leave you alone finally because she's not an airbender?" She asked with a bit of anger in her tone.

"No! It's not like that's the reason I'm making her leave! In fact, I told her I so before I even saw her earthbend! Well, more like I felt her earthbend."

"So she's an earthbender?"

Aang calmed himself down a little and sighed. "I screwed up, and I'm sorry. I won't ever let anything like this happen again." He promised her, taking her other hand how and holding both of her hands in his. She let one last tear fall from her eye.

"I just… feel like… I don't know." She said, having a hard time describing what she was thinking. "It's like… you're supposed to be mine, and… your lips are not supposed to be for anyone else…. but me." She blushed as she ended her last sentence.

"I _am _all yours Katara. Every bit of me is yours and no one else's." He leaned in forward and kissed her. She wanted to pull away in shame, thinking that she shouldn't be kissing him after another girl's lips touched his, but she couldn't help but be drawn into his love. And he felt the need to erase the touch of someone else's lips with Katara's. A sense of urgency fell over Aang and he gently pushed her onto the ground and hovered over her while he continued to kiss her.

Katara was alarmed by the sudden act of force from him. "Wait." She said against his lips. "Someone might see us."

"I'll be able to tell if someone is coming." He replied.

"Are you sure?.." Katara asked. Aang took the opportunity of her mouth being open to push his tongue into hers. Her moan just then made him only want to be more forceful. He pressed his mouth more against her mouth, moving his tongue around her tongue. They're breathing came heavier and they held each other tighter. Aang brought his right hand up to her cheek and lightly rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

For some reason, Aang's gesture made her feel more comfortable with him right then and there. But it was so sensual and made her want him more. He then slid his right hand underneath her and rubbed down her back to just right above her backside. He stopped only for a moment, then continued down to round his hand over her soft left mound. The movement of his hand made Katara subconsciously raised her left leg a little and brushed it against his side. When she realized what she had just done, that sense of fear returned to her again.

"Katara…" Aang breathed out in a whisper against her mouth. "I want you… so badly…"

"You have me." She whispered back.

"I want all of you." He said, still whispering passionately. "Every inch of you. I want to be as close to you as possible… to completely…" He hesitated with his words while still kissing her. "Completely… take all of you…"

His words sent a powerful chill down her body, mainly focusing around her womanhood that was now being pressed up against with Aang's body. She knew what it was that he meant by his words, and the excitement was coupled with her still remaining fear that was now starting to grow.

He could hardly believe what he had just said to her, could hardly believe that he finally let out the words he wanted so badly to say to her. He released her lips, but he didn't move his head away. He just looked into her eyes that were filled with passion and need for him. He raised his hand again to her cheek and held her tenderly and just continued to stare into her beautiful blue eyes.

Sokka was walking down the hallway on the second floor of the palace when he just happened to look out the window. He looked away as he didn't stop his walk, but then did a double take and moved fast to look out the window. His jaw dropped and his eyes practically popped out of his head at the sight he saw in the garden below. Then he made a mad dash down the hall.

Aang was about to lean in and kiss Katara again, but then he stopped.

"Someone's coming." He said with regret. "And…" A worried expression started to show on his face. "They're _running_ this way. I think it's Sokka."

Katara's eyes widened.

Aang quickly got up, lifting Katara up with him in his arms and cradled her close to him with urgency. "I think maybe he saw us from a window or something."

And with that, Aang began to run while still carrying Katara.

When Sokka got to the area in the garden where he had seen Aang and Katara, they were no longer there.

*** Sooo... sorry I keep leaving you hanging and all. And don't worry, no more Maiya! Yay! Please keep the reviews coming, I love to read them! XD Don't be afraid to give constructive criticism either! ***


	9. The Next Step

*** I almost didn't post this chapter so soon. I wanted to wait another couple of days when I was sure I had everything laid out in the order I wanted to ultimately put it in. But I'm sure that it's not going to change. So I decided to post it now. Gosh, I feel like I'm spoiling you guys =) But that's ok. Keep reviewing and messaging me with your critiques. And enjoy the chapter, case it may be a few more days till the next one comes up. Everything is getting more exciting! XD***

"Wow… that was a real close one!" Aang said after he circled the perimeter of the palace half way and walked into a hallway from a side courtyard. Katara was let out of his arms and gently place on her feet, and Aang continued to catch his breath. Katara laughed warmly.

"That was kind of exciting!" She said with her laughter. It made Aang happy to see that she didn't seem depressed anymore, but the thoughts weren't away from her mind for very long. They went to their separate rooms to change their clothes, since they were a little dirty from placing on the ground, and get ready to meet in the larger dining hall this time for dinner.

As she changed, she thought about what they talked about. The thought of someone else kissing Aang still bothered her. She knew she shouldn't let it bother because it really wasn't Aang who did it, it was Maiya that did it. But she couldn't help how it made her feel. It felt almost like something was ruined, like their relationship was poisoned.

She sighed. I just have to pretend that it didn't happen, she told herself. It's not like Aang loves someone else, or that he cheated on me or he's hiding something from me.

Dinner that evening felt a little awkward. Sokka kept glancing at Aang with strange looks, but other than that it was alright. Aang wore a traditional sleeveless Fire Nation tunic with the normal pants and boots. For some reason, to Katara, he looked pretty sexy in these kinds of clothes.

Katara loved being able to eat with her father again, and Bato and the rest of Hakoda's fleet were there. After dinner was done and everyone was well into their conversations, Sokka stood from his chair and cleared his throat. "Can I have everyone's attention please?"

Everyone quieted down and looked up at Sokka. "I… um, I have an announcement to make!" Sokka looked down at Suki beside him and smiled. "Suki and I are now engaged!"

Gasps were heard from all around the table, followed by cheers and congratulations. Sokka took Suki's hand and helped her up out of her seat, took out the necklace from his tunic pocket and placed it around her neck.

Katara stared in awe at the love radiating from Suki. She was so happy and filled with joy, and it made Katara feel a little jealous. The couple kissed each other after Sokka placed the necklace on her and everyone cheered louder. Katara didn't cheer though. She was too choked up to. But her smile was bright and filled with happiness for the people she loved in from of her, and she became teary eyed.

She felt Aang slip his hand over hers under the table. She turned her head to look at him, and he smiled warmly at her. For some reason she felt comforted by him suddenly. She smiled warmly back at him, then turned to look at the couple again.

Hakoda got up and shook his son's hand and hugged Suki. Everyone was now standing and taking their turns with their personal congratulations.

"Isn't that sweet?" Mai said and then turned to Zuko. He blushed, knowing what his girlfriend was implying. He wanted to ask Mai to marry him, but he was very shy about it. That, and he was lord of a country, so it wouldn't be all that easy. When things finally quieted down around the place, he would plan his moves, but for now he needed to bide his time.

Aang shook Sokka's hand and then gave him a hug.

"We need to talk… as soon as possible." Sokka whispered in his ear before they broke from their hug. Aang nodded to him, trying his best to not look worried.

"So when are you planning on having your wedding?" Zuko asked.

"We were thinking within the next couple of months, and we would like to have it on Kyoshi Island." Sokka grinned at Suki and she nodded her approval. Obviously, it was Suki's idea to have it there.

"Well at least it's not far from home." Hakoda laughed and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

Aang watched them anxiously. He, too, was feeling a bit jealous over Sokka and Suki's special occasion. He wanted to be the one up there, with Katara, receiving the blessings of their friends and family. Hopefully, though, that time won't be too far away.

As people started to make their way out of the hall, Sokka found his chance to pull Aang aside. He looked at Aang with his arms folded over his chest and glared at him with a 'you are so in trouble' look. Aang just grinned stupidly at him.

"Aang." Sokka said with a firm voice. "You know _exactly _what I'm about to say to you, don't you?"

"Wellll…." Aang averted his eyes to the ground, still grinning and now blushing and rubbing the back of his head. "I can guess…"

"You are SO lucky that it was me that saw you and not my dad!" Sokka said sternly. "Cause if he would have seen…. that.. well you could just kiss your permission goodbye! I can't _believe _that you would do something like that where people can see you!"

"I just sorta got caught up in the moment." Aang said as his excuse.

"Yeah, I'll say! That was GROSS! I don't want to see you doing that to my sister! Not saying you should do it somewhere else, but really Aang… you were on top of her!"

"Sorry... that you had to see that. I'll make sure to be more discreet next time." Aang gave a sly smile to his friend.

Sokka smacked his forehead and a growl came from deep in his throat. "Aang… you're pushing it!"

Aang laughed. At least he wasn't threatening to kill him for touching his sister.

Sokka loosened up a little. "Anyway, when are you planning to… well, you know…"

Aang's eyes went wide and he blushed furiously.

"No! EWW! I mean…" Sokka looked behind him to make sure no one was listening. "Propose." He whispered.

"OH!" Aang felt relieved. "Hmm…" He wasn't sure if he wanted to ruin the surprise. He thought about it for a moment. "You'll find out."

Katara saw that Aang was talking to Sokka, so she decided to leave them be. She walked to the back courtyard and stood at the hall exit that lead to the beautiful garden and looked out. She sighed as she thought about how happy Suki looked when they announced their engagement. Her cheeks flushed when she felt that little bit of jealousy over their happiness.

She wondered if Aang had thought about things like that, about marriage and proposing to her. But it didn't seem likely that it would happen for a while. He was going to be traveling a lot and was going to be committed to his duty as the Avatar. She couldn't imagine him settling himself down any time in the near future to be with her. But it was ok with her if she didn't have that happiness she wanted right now. She would still get to be with him wherever he went, and having him with her was enough. It would be alright.

But sure enough, a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away. She thought herself a fool for feeling so down about it. It wasn't Aang's fault that he had something he needed to do. And she definitely wasn't sorry she fell in love with him. She was, though, going to be 16 years old in just one more day. She would be of marrying age. And Zuko was making a big deal over it and throwing her a big party and inviting many people. And then after that, they would be off again. Their vacation would be over and they would have to go back to caring about the rest of the world.

After a little while of brooding through her thoughts, she went back inside and went to her room. As she approached her door, Aang came up down the hall and called to her.

"Hey I was just coming to see you." He said. "Zuko says that there is just one last meeting tomorrow, and we're done! We're gonna discuss our destinations for rebuilding and go over some other important things. Maybe you should sit in on it too since you'll be coming with me." He smiled at the last part.

"Ok." She replied. "That sounds like a good idea."

And then they just stood there, the atmosphere suddenly getting awkward. She remembered their little scene from earlier and blushed, and he did as well.

"Sooo… You going to sleep now?" Aang asked shyly.

Katara was caught off guard by his question. "Um, no not yet. Why?" Her cheeks got redder and she averted her eyes. "Did you… want to hang out for a bit?" She asked, also shyly.

"Ok!" He said a little excitedly.

He walked in and she closed the door. They walked to the middle of her room and stopped, both feeling awkward from earlier. Aang had dug up his courage and told her he wanted to advance his relationship with her. She never replied, but… well, she didn't make any indication that she was against it. But he was suddenly too shy to make a move.

Katara went to her bed and sat at the edge of it. "So, if the meeting gets done tomorrow early enough, what do you want to do?"

Aang sat next to her. "I dunno. Maybe…" He thought for a moment. "Hey didn't you go to some festival thing with Toph and Suki the other day?"

"Oh yeah, I think tomorrow is the last night! They are gonna shoot off fireworks!"

"Then let's do that!" Aang said excitedly.

"Ok!" Katara replied.

Then it got awkward again. Neither one of them could think of something else to say or talk about, and it was unusual for them. They were both thinking about earlier and Katara was beginning to get very nervous. How was she supposed to reply to what he asked of her earlier? She wanted it too, but she couldn't get past that fear. Her breathing started coming just a little faster, and she tried her best to control it.

Aang could almost hear her heart beat getting faster and he knew she was just as nervous as he was. He turned to look at her and he took her hand in his. When she looked up at him, he smiled softly, as if to say to her that she had nothing to be afraid of. She smiled back. She kept thinking to herself to go for it, but she kept holding herself back. Her mind was in a frenzy.

Her thoughts suddenly came to a halt as Aang leaned in and kissed her softly on her lips. But only for a moment, and then he pulled away slightly and looked back at her, hovering close to her face. She then pushed herself forward and closed the gap again and kissed him.

Their kiss was gentle but full of passion, working into a rhythm as he caressed her arms. He parted her lips with his and their tongues collided between their mouths. Katara wrapped her arms around the middle of Aang's strong body and held him tighter. And with that movement, Aang began to fasten his pace a little, forcing his tongue more.

He began to move, gently pushing her further onto the bed, breaking the kiss a couple of times only to just lock onto her lips again. Her head was placed onto a pillow and he was above her. He laid his body over hers, carefully holding his weight up so he didn't crush her slender body. His lips moved down to her cheek and then to her neck. She exhaled a gasp softly as he licked and sucked at her neck. His hand trailed down and he tenderly rubbed her left breast. Katara let out a soft moan and he brought his lips back up to hers.

He moved his hand down to the sash around her stomach and was able to quickly loosen it from around her and pulled it away. Her eyes shot open as he slid his hand between the opening of the robe-like dress he had just unwrapped and rubbed her breast again over her under wrappings.

Katara broke the kiss by turning her head to the side.

"Aang…" She whimpered. "I… I'm… scared."

He stared at her, his expression soft and his hand not moving away from her breast. "Katara…" He whispered tenderly. "I won't do this if you don't want me to."

She was breathing heavily and staring at his chest, her mind running wild again. "I want to." She finally said. "I'm just…" She squeezed her eyes shut and didn't finish her sentence.

"It's ok." He removed his hand from her breast and laid down to the side of her. "Turn around."

She turned to her side, facing away from him. He pulled the sheet of the bed over them, then laid behind her and slipped his left arm around under her and then gently up to her right breast. His right hand pulled away her opened robe-dress she was still wear over her right side and placed his hand on her right hip over her bindings. He felt the rise and fall of her body as she braced herself for whatever was coming next.

Aang took in a deep breath and gently let it out as his hand slid slowly over her stomach and then under her bindings. She gasped as his fingers touched her womanhood. She was wet enough already that his middle finger easily slipped between her folds and found the nub there that drove her crazy with pleasure when he touched it.

She moaned louder this time, clutching the bed sheet.

"Shhh" Aang instructed her quietly. He continued to caress her with his fingers. Katara squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out. She arched her body and her backside pushed against his lap. Aang moaned softly and his hand that was massaging her womanhood pressed her back against his lap hard and she felt his erection rub up against her backside. His fingers slipped down further during this movement and found her entrance.

Katara moaned quietly as he pushed only an inch of his finger inside of her. He continued rubbing up and down, getting just very slightly further into her with every stroke. And then he slid his finger in more. She whimpered at the sensation that was taking over her body and building up fast. He kept on stroking up and down and in and out, then he pushed his index finger into her along with his middle finger and rubbed her clit with his thumb. Her moans were getting louder as she reached the peak of her pleasure, so Aang raised his left hand from her breast to over her mouth. He brought his face up to the side of her face "Shhh" he whispered into her ear.

The feeling of his breath on her ear sent a violent shiver down her body and she cried into his hand as she came. Aang felt her tighten around his fingers and felt warm juices spill inside of her. The desire to put himself inside of her became so great that he almost began to pull his pants off.

But he didn't.

After she completely came down from her orgasm, he pulled his fingers out of her. She was panting and exhausted from the surge of energy that had just passed through her. She turned around to face him and placed her hands on his chest. He kissed her forehead, then kissed her lips. Her eyes were heavy lidded from being tired when she looked up at him as he pulled his lips away from hers.

"Sleep now." He whispered tenderly. She felt a little bit surprised and gave him a questioning look.

He smiled. He brought her closer to him in an embrace. "When the time is right, I won't hold myself back anymore." He whispered into her ear.

At the time, she didn't know what he meant by those words. She thought on it, but couldn't hold sleep at bay for very long when she shut her eyes. She fell asleep wrapped up in his arms.

He felt the rise and fall of her chest as she drifted further into her sleep, and he laid there awake, enjoying having the girl he loved more than anything in the world in his arms. He thought about a lot of things before sleep claimed him too. He thought about Katara. He thought about tomorrow. And he thought about the day after tomorrow. Katara's 16th birthday. He smiled. "I love you." He whispered into the sleeping girl's ear.

Just one more day.


	10. Girl's Day Out

When Aang woke up, the sun was just about to rise. Katara stirred in her sleep and Aang whispered to her to wake her up. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I'm gonna head back to my room now, before it's too late and someone finds out I'm here." He told her.

Katara smiled, as if to laugh at him, but she was still half asleep. "Ok," she said. "I'll see you later."

Aang kissed her and got out of bed and headed for the door. Katara fell back asleep instantly.

When he opened the door to walk out, he nearly jumped with fright to see Suki just a few feet away from him. She froze. Her hand was on the door knob to her door and it looked like she was about to go back into her room. Aang's face turned bright red and embarrassment was all over his face as he quietly closed the door. And Suki's as well, just not as funny looking as Aang's face. Suki would have laughed at him if she wasn't in an embarrassed situation herself.

"Um….." Aang was at a loss for words.

"Goo… good morning…" Suki said, still bright red.

"Yeah… good morning…." Aang replied. He remembered what Sokka had told him about Suki sharing a room with him. "I, uh, thought Sokka said you two shared a room."

Suki's blinked. "He did?... Well, we sorta do." She said bash"

Aang's eyes widened. "Aahh, sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean… um.." Aang had no idea what the heck he was trying to say anymore. Then he sighed. "Please don't tell him you saw me… here…"

Suki almost giggled, but she smiled instead and nodded. Aang made his way back to his room and got away from the awkward situation he was just in. Well, at least she wasn't in her room the night before to hear anything going on in Katara's room next door.

The meeting that day ended fairly early, and just as Aang had requested, Katara sat in on it.

"I don't see how you can stand being in there all day long!" Katara commented after they left the room.

"It gets really boring after a while, doesn't it?" Aang replied. "And this one wasn't that bad and it was pretty short."

"If you call that 'short'." Katara said, rolling her eyes. "At least it's all over now." She stretched out her arms above her head, releasing stress that built up in her muscles from sitting for hours. "You still want to go to the festival today?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Aang said excitedly.

"You're not going _anywhere _with Katara!" Suki's voice came from a little ways down the hall. The both of them stared at her as she approached them with Toph and Mai in tow. The couple gave her questioning looks, Aang's looking a little more frightened than confused.

"She's coming with _us _today!" Suki announced. She took hold of Katara's wrist and dragged her towards the group of girls. "Sorry Aang, but it's girl time now." Suki finished off with a sly smile.

Aang looked slightly annoyed and was about to protest, saying they had already made plans, but he stopped himself when Katara furrowed her eye brows and smiled at him and turned and went with them.

Suki kept holding onto Katara's wrist as if she would run and fly back to Aang if she let go as they walked down the hall, leaving Aang there girlfriendless.

Suki planned out their girl party that morning before Katara was out of the meeting. They went to a natural waterfall garden just outside of the city in a forest clearing. The girls all stripped their clothes off, leaving on their under cloths and clothing, and dove into the water. Toph, of course, sat out and just lay in the sun since she didn't know how to swim. She got the occasional playful splash from Katara, who mocked her saying that they could teach her how to swim and Suki would save her from drowning again if she needed. Suki and Katara laughed at the memory. Mai laughed along too when the girls told her about what happened a while back at the Serpent's Pass.

When Toph decided that she had enough, she got up and stomped her foot on the ground, sending a tremor through the ground and under the water. A pillar rose up and shot Katara out of the water and landed her on Toph's turf.

"Ow! That hurt!" Katara complained, getting up and rubbing her sore backside that she landed on.

"That's what you get for messing with the world's greatest earthbender!" Toph said with a proud smile.

"World's greatest, huh?" Katara said with sarcasm.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"I think we still have a score to settle here." Katara challenged.

Suki and Mai looked irritably at each other, then looked back at the sparring water and earth benders. Their battle went on for a while until both girls were panting for air. They agreed to call a truce.

Toph went back to her spot on the ground, but this time she bended a small and shallow crater for her to lie in. She bended a moat to lead water from the lake into her crater, then bended the earth back in place to stop the water flow. She laid her back into the small pool of water and kicked back to relax. "There, now I'm in the water. No more complaints."

After a little more time passed, Mai got out of the water and laid herself out to soak up the remaining sunlight of the day.

This is my chance, Suki thought to herself. She dragged Katara out of earshot of the other girls, swimming closer to the waterfall.

"What's up?" Katara asked.

"I just had to talk to you privately about this." Suki said excitedly.

"What is it?" Katara asked, now also getting excited.

"Well… how was it?" Suki asked.

Katara furrowed her eye brows and looked confused. "Um… how was what?"

"Oh, come on Katara! You know what I mean! I saw Aang walk out of your room really early this morning."

Katara dropped her jaw and her face went full on red. "What?... what are you… that.. that wasn't..." Katara had no words.

"You guys did it right?" Suki asked persistently.

"No! We… no we didn't do... that! No!" Katara was looking more and more embarrassed with each word she spat out.

"Katara, you don't need to hide it from me, it's not like I'm gonna go run off and tell Sokka or anyone else. It's only fair you talk about it with me since I gave you advice!" Suki said with a sly smile.

"No, but… we didn't. I mean, we did… stuff… but we didn't do _everything_." Katara said, calming down a little but still extremely embarrassed with her little confession .

"Oh." Suki said, a little disappointed. "Well, give me the details anyway! I want to know what happened!"

"No way! I can't do that! It's… private stuff."

"Well that may be, but you are still undereducated and you might still need my help." Suki protested.

Katara furrowed her eye brows and looked away. She didn't want to admit it, but she was right. "Well…. He sorta… did stuff to me again…" Katara explained to her in some detail about what happened. Afterward, Suki just stared at her in disbelief.

"Dang…" Suki said. "I can't believe he can hold himself back so well! He must reeeaally love you! I wish Sokka… eh, um, I mean… this guy I used to date… was like that."

Katara gave her an irritated look. "Yeah, thanks for correcting yourself there."

Suki took into consideration what Katara had told her. Aang held himself back, saying he was waiting for the right time. And she knew that he had a betrothal necklace for Katara, because Sokka has a big mouth. Was Aang gonna propose on Katara's birthday? And is that when he thought would be the right time? After they were married? Or maybe just when they were engaged?

"Suki, are you listening?" Katara asked, annoyed.

"Huh?" She looked up, snapping out of her thoughts. "Hey Katara, I think I should talk to you about something important… something that may help you."

Katara looked worried.

"Well, it's your… cycle, actually." Suki said.

"What about my cycle?"

"Do you know about when you are most fertile? And when you're the least fertile?"

"Uh…. No…" Katara replied, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, I don't know what Aang means by 'when the time is right', but you too have a time that is the 'right time'. You're gonna be traveling around with him for a while, you don't want to be having babies while you're on the go."

Katara's cheeks flushed again.

"The best time for you to… well, not get pregnant, is within a week after your monthly time." Suki instructed her. "Worst time is a couple of weeks after! Don't do it then!" Suki thought for a moment. "You do know there are also herbs you can use, right?"

"Well, yeah, I've heard…" Katara shrugged her shoulders.

"I think I'll lend you some of mine. You know, just in case. Just put it in your tea within a day after and it should prevent you from getting pregnant."

"You know, this talk is very uncomfortable for me." Katara said, averting her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, you need to have this talk with _someone._" Suki said.

Katara thought for a moment, then looked up at her friend and smiled. "Yeah, I know. But… I don't know, I'm just scared still. And I don't know what it is about it that frightens me. I love Aang, and I know very well that he loves me back and wouldn't do anything to hurt me. I feel safe and comfortable with him. It's just… I can't seem to understand why I… I'm just…"

"You're a virgin, Katara. No matter how strong you think you are, all girls are like this when it comes to love and intimacy."

"Even Mai?" Katara asked with a grin.

Suki stared at Katara with surprise, then laughed. "I've gotten her to open up a bit, but not _that _far." She said. Katara laughed with her, and they eventually made it back to the other girls.

As the sun began to set, they packed up their day camp and went back to the palace.

"Where's Haru been?" Suki asked Toph as they were just coming up to the city gates.

"Oh… well…" Toph blushed a little, but tried her best to hide it. "I guess there's no need to keep it secret, everyone's gonna find out soon anyway. He went to see my parents."

Katara and Suki both looked at her with shocked expressions. "You mean…?" Katara asked.

"Yep. He's asking them permission to marry me."

"Aww, how cute! You guys will make cute earthbending babies!" Mai said in a sarcastic sweet voice. The girls all laughed.

"Hey , I didn't say I was gonna say yes!" Toph said, hiding her embarrassment.

"Well, are you?" Katara asked.

Toph couldn't continue her stern look for long. It soon melted away into a shy smile.

"Aahhh I'm so happy for you!" Katara said, throwing her arms around her friend in an embrace. Toph lightly returned the hug, just patting Katara's back. But it didn't take much for Toph to feel the emotions coming for her friend that was hugging her. Katara was shaking. And it was from holding back tears. Not tears of happiness though. Toph decided to not say anything about it or ask why Katara was feeling pain. She was happy for Toph, of course, but she held back an opposite emotion at the same time.

The four girls continued to chat while they went back to the palace and then went to the dining hall to meet with everyone. Toph said she didn't want to say anything about her engagement to Haru just yet since they were all still bathing in the joy and excitement of Suki and Sokka's engagement, and Toph didn't want to take that away from Suki yet. Everyone was there at dinner, and the group of girls all sat next to their men, except for Toph, since hers was away for the moment.

After dinner, Aang took Katara out for a walk around the outer gardens of the palace. As they walked, hand in hand, Aang avoided the topic of what happened last night. Katara talked about her day with the girls, Aang talked about sparring with Zuko earlier. They eventually made their way to a beautiful view of the city and the stars above. Aang put his arm around Katara and they just stared up at the sky. Aang hand the betrothal necklace hidden in a pocket among his clothes, and he fought hard against the urge to take it out and give it to her. It would have been perfect. The scene was beautiful and the mood was just right. But he couldn't. Not yet. He had it planned already. Though it upset him that he couldn't spend the day with Katara like he had planned, it at least gave him a chance to plan things out and prepare it all.

Prepare for tomorrow.

He was so anxious for tomorrow that he just wanted to go straight to bed and sleep so that the next day would come faster. But how could he when he had the most beautiful girl in the world standing there with him, bathed in the glorious glow of the moonlight. The sight of her, standing there and staring up at the night sky with the light of the moon spilling on her gorgeous face was enough to take the airbender's breath away. Katara turned to him and saw his heavy lidded, love struck stare at her, and she blushed.

She leaned in closer to his face, and he got the hint and leaned in as well and took her lips with his. It was a soft, gentle kiss that went on for a while without any force or urgency, but with patience.

She leaned back away from the kiss and stared into his wondrous gray eyes. She wanted to tell him about how much she loved him and about how happy she was with him and that she would brave any obstacle or hardship or pain to be with him, but she didn't say a word. Thoughts about Toph and Suki getting married and happily being with their lovers came into her mind, and she felt that jealousy coming up again. Her friends were receiving that happiness that she wanted so much, and she fought back her tears as she thought of how she wasn't anywhere close to having that ending with Aang that she wanted for a long time, if at all. She had no idea what was going on through his mind, and she wasn't brave enough to ask him. But if she did ask him, and if he did tell her, she would find that she had nothing to worry about and her doubts were all wrong.

"Come on, it's getting late. I'll walk you to your room." Aang said softly as he took her hand to lead her away.

"Yeah…" Katara replied.

She was led out of the garden and into the palace, up stairs and down the hall to her bedroom door. She thought about asking Aang to stay with her that night, and sure enough Aang though about asking her if he could stay with her that night. But neither one said anything. Aang fought with his temptation over a battle that his body did not want to win, but he knew it was for the best so he had to bear it. He kissed her and told her goodnight, and after she closed the door, he went to his own room.

Katara stripped her clothes off and put on her sleeping robe. She sat at the edge of her bed and sighed, wondering whether or not she should go to Aang's room. She was feeling emotional and didn't want to be alone with her thoughts. But would going there imply that she was wanting something to happen tonight?

After contemplating over it for another moment, she made up her mind and went for the door. But just as she reached for the door knob there was a bang sound that came from the window that made her jump with surprise.

She sighed, smiled, and started to turn around as she said. "You don't need to use the window, you know, you could just use the…"

She gasped.

"Expecting someone else?" Jet asked her as he jumped from the window frame to the floor.


	11. Kidnapped

"What… are you _doing _here?" Katara asked, her shocked expression melting into a pissed off one.

Jet walked closer to her. "I just came to see you, Katara." He replied. She glared at him with suspicion. "Well, it's just that I've had a lot on my mind lately. "He continued to slowly walk closer to her. "I thought we could, you know, talk about things."

"Jet, there's nothing to talk about." Katara said firmly.

"No, Katara, I think there is." He said with a light demand in his tone. "Look at you." He said, now standing just a couple of feet away in front of her. "You've become more of a woman since I first met you. You've always been beautiful, but now you've got the alluring curves that call to every guy around you." His eyes looked her all up and down her body."My feelings for you haven't changed. I want you to be mine." He said finally.

"I already told you, I'm…"

"Do you really think you'll be happy with him?" Jet cut her off. She flinched at the piercing words. "Do you think you'll be able to hide your pain forever? He's not gonna be able to give you what you want! He's not gonna be able to stay in one place for long and completely dedicate himself to you like… like I can. I can give you all of that. I can give you a happy life. You can't have a normal life with him, but you can with me…"

"Stop it!" Katara yelled at him.

Jet clenched his teeth. "I've seen how you've been in pain lately. I know you know that what I'm saying to you is making perfect sense. The guy is placed on a high pedestal because he's the Avatar. He's loved by people everywhere, and you just want to stand in the back and watch all that?"

"You think I haven't thought these things through? I know what to expect, and he's not like that anyway." Katara said in anger as she defended Aang. "I know being with him will be hard, but I accept that."

"Well I can't accept that." Jet said. He made a sudden move and was now right in front of her, his eyes piercing down into hers. She looked up at him with surprise. "Katara…" He said gently. He slowly reached his hand up as he saw in her face that her resolve was faltering. His hand touched her soft cheek tenderly. At first she didn't move. She felt paralyzed.

Then all her resolve came back at once and she shoved him away from her. "Get _out!_" She said with a deadly tone.

"No." He said, coming close again. "Not until you understand that the choice you are making is wrong!"

She went for a vase that was sitting on a nearby table and bended the water out of it. Before she could make her attack, Jet had seen it coming and grabbed her wrist and yanked it behind her back. Katara cried out in anger as pain shot up her arm from the sudden jerk of her arm.

Mai was walking down the hall and just passed Katara's room when she heard a cry come from Katara inside. She stopped and turned to the door.

Katara was struggling to keep her other arm free from Jet's grip while he was struggling to keep her hands away from doing any bending.

There was a sudden knock at the door. "Katara, are you alright in there?"

"Mai!" Katara was surprised by the sudden rescue. Jet used her distraction as his chance to take her other wrist and pull it too behind her back.

"You leave me with no other choice." He said. He quickly pulled out a pair of metal cuffs and bounded her hands behind her back. Katara tried to jerks away from him but he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder and Katara cried out with a scream.

Mai slammed open the door. Jet was making his way to the other end of the room and turned back to see Mai pull out daggers that seemed like they appeared out of thin air. He jumped out the window just in time to dodge them, taking Katara with him.

Mai ran to the window, pulling out more throwing daggers from her sleeves and saw Jet jumping over the gates of the palace courtyard and disappeared. She scowled, pulled the daggers she had thrown out of the wall and ran out of the room.

Aang jumped several feet in the air when Mai slammed open his bedroom door.

"Katara was kidnapped!" Mai spat out.

Aang's sudden surprise was gone as fast as it came and his expression became more urgent . "WHAT? How? Who?"

"I don't know." Mai replied quickly. "Some guy I recognized from your birthday."

Aang didn't know who it could have been, but he wasn't about to waste time trying to figure it out either. Mai told him the general direction she saw him go in, and Aang went out his door saying he was going to go get Toph and head out there. He didn't even bother putting on a shirt.

Jet made his way fast through the forest, as if he knew exactly where he was going. Katara continued to struggle out of his arms, but it was no use competing against his strength.

"Jet, let me go! Why are you doing this to me?" She demanded.

He came up to a cave hidden behind thick brush. He pulled out a torch, making sure to keep a steady grip on the girl he was holding, and pulled out a flint and quickly and easily lit the torch. Then he entered inside. "You're gonna thank me for this later." He said with confidence.

"Not likely at all!" Katara snapped at him. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

"I'm doing this for you, and because of how I feel about you. You need to be with _me, _Katara. I'll make you so much happier than he would. He'll be everywhere all the time, he'll be chased by fans and enemies alike. You'll constantly be miserable and questioning his faithfulness for you."

"No I won't. You don't know anything!" Katara shouted at him.

"Yes, I do. You're already miserable." He said.

"No, I'm not! I'm perfectly…"

"I've been watching you, and I've seen the emotions you've been battling with inside of you."

"Have you been stalking me or something?" Katara asked accusingly.

Jet lowered his eyes. "I'd like to think of it as 'looking out for you'." He looked back at her. "You don't seem to realize yet the pain you're enduring will get much worse from being with someone like him!"

He stopped walking finally and slid Katara off of his shoulder and onto the ground. She immediately got up and darted towards the direction of the exit of the cave. Of course, though, Jet stopped her and pushed her back down onto the ground. "Don't bother. Without your bending, you're pretty much powerless."

She shot him a pissed off look.

"Come on, don't look at me like that. I really didn't want to do it this way. I didn't want to force you out here with me…"

"You mean kidnap me?" She cut him off.

Jet hardened his look. "I know you had feelings for me, and I'm willing to bet that you still do…" He knelt down in front of her and his voice softened."… even if they are buried deep inside of you."

"It was a crush!" Katara protested. "I don't feel that way anymore!"

"I'm sure I can change your mind." He said, leaning in closer to her. He grabbed her chin, but she instantly jerked it away. "Katara…" He said with a bit of passion in his voice. "I never stopped thinking about you. Be with me, I can make you happy."

"Well, you're making me really uncomfortable and unhappy and really pissed off!" She snapped.

"Yeah, well I'm about to make you feel really wonderful." He said in a sensual tone.

Katara suddenly felt very frightened of the guy in front of her. He forced her back down against the ground and hovered over her. "Jet, please stop it!" She said, a cry escaping with her angry tone as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I can't do that, Katara." He said passionately to her as he started to pull away the cloth that was wrapped around her middle, holding up her robe. "You'll realize soon that I'm the one for you. I will give you the life you want, and I will love you more than he ever could. With me, you won't ever have to doubt or be lonely."

Katara's eyes shot open as she felt his finger tips touch her stomach. Fear and anger were beaming toward him from her eyes. He leaned forward to kiss her. She jerked her head to the side, protection her lips from his. He paused for a second, then kept going and placed his lips on her neck. He placed more kisses along her neck, moving back to her ear, then he slid his hand over her chest and caressed her breast.

"No! Stop it!" Katara screamed.

Katara didn't hear the loud sound. All she remembered was seeing Jet flung from her, flying off to the side and hitting the wall of the cave. He groaned loudly as his back made impact with the wall and he slid down into an uncomfortable sitting position. She looked behind her. Toph and Aang were there, just a little ways away from her, and Aang was in a stance indicating that he just bended air.

Aang's sudden shock at the sight of Katara showed clearly on his face. Her hands were bound behind her, her robe had been opened and she had a tear stained frightened expression on her face. Aang's expression transformed into sheer anger and his tattoos and eyes lit up.

Jet pushed himself back up off the ground, only to be blown back up against the wall by a powerful explosion of air. Aang was suddenly in front of him, the end of his staff placed up at Jet's neck.

"Jet…" Aang said in a horridly frightening tone.

Jet stared at Aang, who's glowing eyes pierced into his terrified ones. "Do you have any comprehension of what you've just _done_?" The Avatar said in a very sinister voice.

Toph bended the metal cuffs off of Katara's wrists, then got up and walked up beside Aang. "Yeah, seriously, you just kidnapped and made a move on the Avatar's girlfriend." The girl said with a threatening tone in her voice as she folded her arms over her chest. "Aang, go to her. I'll take care of him." She said as she crackled her knuckles.

It took a few moments for Aang to clear his head and not give into his rage, but the lights on his body and in his eyes finally dimmed and he turned and walked to Katara. She was sitting on the ground, stunned, and her robe was still partly open. But the white cloths that clung to her body under her clothes were still wrapped up tight and unmoved. Aang felt a heavy wave of relief. He made it in time.

"Katara…" He said, kneeling down in front of her. She looked up at him. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"Aang…" She said with relief. The tension in her body was slowly loosening now. "No… I'm fine."

If Aang hadn't gotten there in time, would Jet really have gone further? She shuddered at the thought.

Aang got up and reached down and picked Katara up from the ground and cradled her against the front of his body. "It's ok, Aang, you can just put me down." She told him.

He chose to ignore her statement.

Just then, Mai came running in with Zuko, Sokka and Suki all behind her.

"Where is he?" Sokka demanded. "And why aren't you in Avatar state, beating him up?"

"Toph's taking care of that." Aang replied sternly.

Sokka went to see the guy that was pinned up against the wall by earth braces on his arms and legs.

"JET?" Sokka shouted in astonishment. Sokka's face became twisted with anger and he stomped his way up to him. "If you _ever _come hear my sister again…" He growled. He didn't even finish his sentence. He threw a punch to Jet's face, surprising everyone.

"I'll make sure I lock him up good and tight tonight." Zuko said to Aang and Suki. "We'll question him in the mor…" Zuko paused. He was about to say 'in the morning', but that wasn't such a good idea. Katara's birthday was tomorrow. "We'll question him in a couple of days. Give him some time to think over what he's done here."

Aang nodded. "We're going ahead." He said to his two friends. Leaving the others behind to take care of Jet, Aang walked out of the cave and made his way in the direction of the palace.

For a while, neither one of them said anything. Then finally, Katara sighed. "I'm perfectly capable of walking right now."

"No." Aang said sternly.

"Aang, I'm fine!" She protested.

"I don't care what you think you are right now, you're not walking!" He said as he held her tighter to him. "What if…" He hesitated. "What if I hadn't have gotten there when I did? What if he…?" Aang's voice was softening with fear in it. "What if he did…something to you?"Aang's expression got dark with anger just then. "I wouldn't hold back the unthinkable things I'd do to him if he did…" He said, holding her tightly again. His heart was breaking at just the thought of Katara possibly being forced onto and done things to… things that only Aang should have the privilege of doing with her. He was waiting patiently for the right moment to have that special experience with his precious lover. And it was almost taken away from him.

A tear fell from his cheek and landed on Katara's arm. She looked up at him and saw the tears rolling down his face. She reached her hand up and wiped away his tears with her finger tips. He closed his eyes, stopped walking, and then looked down at her with a sad expression. "Did he kiss you?"

Katara's eyes widened from the unexpected question. Then her eyes softened. "No. But…" He hesitated. "he did kiss… my neck." She averted her eyes in shame. Aang felt a sudden anger from her answer. But at least her lips weren't taken.

Then he suddenly thought of something. He now understood how Katara must have felt when Maiya kissed him. It made him feel even more terrible about it now.

He looked back ahead and continued walking.

They made it back shortly after that. Katara looked around her and was about to question his destination, but she figured that was useless since she pretty much had an idea of where he was taking her. He noticed her observation. "You didn't think you'd ever be sleeping alone ever again after tonight, did you?" Aang asked her. She held back a giggle.

He opened the door of his room while still carrying Katara in his arms, and then closed the door. He stood there for a moment, not moving. He looked down at her, and she returned the gaze.

"I think… I'd like to bathe right now…" She said shyly.

He blushed. "Ah.. of course…" He put her down on her feet finally and went to his private bathrrom and started the water up. She stood there for a moment while she waited and thought about many things. Of course he was going to be extremely overprotective of her now, which meant less privacy for her. That thought made her blush.

He came out of the bathroom and told her she could go in. She walked in and closed the door behind her. On the counter was a lit candle and some towels for her when she was done, and also a clean, folded up robe that was probably Aang's. She also noticed instantly that his tub was quite a bit larger than hers was. Well, that's just not fair, she thought to herself.

Katara removed her dirtied robe and stripped the white cloths from her body, then stepped into the warm water and settled herself in and relaxed. The water felt so incredible that she wanted to just stay in there forever.

On the other side of the door, Aang was pacing back and forth, deciding on whether or not he should ask to join her in her bath. His face was completely red over the contemplation and his pants were beginning to get tighter in his lap from his growing desire. He could make the excuse that he just wanted to make completely sure she was safe and that was perfectly reasonable enough for the events that happened that night.

He sighed then. It would also be a bad idea for the fact that she was just pretty much molested that night too. Well, almost anyway. She might be shaken up and traumatized from it, though she seemed like she wasn't. But still, he didn't want to take his chances, so he patiently waited for her to get finished.

She finally came out of the bathroom wearing the robe he left for her in there. Her hair was only slightly damp since she bended most of the water out of it. Aang was sitting at the edge of his bed, waiting for her. His cheeks flushed when he saw her come in.

"Thank you for letting me use your wash room." She said shyly.

"No… no problem…" He replied.

She stood there, not knowing what she should do now. She was obviously not going back to her own room. She knew Aang well enough to know he wasn't going to let her out of his sight. Well, unless she was in the bathroom obviously.

It was Aang that moved first. He reached his hand out to her, and she placed hers in it. He gently pulled her to sit beside him. They were silent for a while, both having a lot on their mind but neither one knowing what to say. Katara wasn't sure how to talk about the things that had just happened, and neither was Aang.

Katara broke the silence with a sigh. "Let's get to sleep now. It's very late." She said. He turned his head to look at her, then she turned to return the glance and smiled sweetly at him. He smiled back, then leaned in to kiss her. She sharply but gentle inhaled a breath as he touched her lips softly with his. He lingered there for a moment, and then as he pulled away, she pushed forward to claim his lips again and threw her arms around his neck. He was throw off by surprise but quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around the middle of her body. He pushed her slowly up the bed and laid her back onto the cushion. He broke from the kiss and hovered over her, staring into her deep ocean eyes. There was need in her gaze, need for him. But as always, that fear lingered inside of her. And he could always see it in her eyes, no matter how much she tried to push it aside.

"You have absolutely no idea how hard this is for me." He whispered passionately to her. The tickle of his breath on her ear and the sensual tone and words made her body shudder with pleasure. His lips were barely brushed up against hers as his glazed, heavy lidded eyes stared into hers. He pushed his lower body hard against hers, his hard desire rubbing forcefully against her womanhood.

She gasped heavily at the pressure. He didn't release her from his push, he kept himself in place and just stared at her. She stared back through her heavy lidded eyes, breathing heavily. He then very slowly was letting go of the pressure he was putting on her, then pushed against her again. He exhaled heavily, and he caught her lips with his.

When he pulled away from her lips, he saw the fear in her eyes was more visible. "Aang…" She whispered. He nearly lost it at the sound of his name on her alluring voice. He averted his eyes and turned his head as he exhaled loudly.

He laid himself next to her and pushed his arm under her head, making her lay her head on his shoulder. She placed her hand on his chest and his free hand slid down her arm and caressed it tenderly. She felt a little relief from his decision to stop, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed at the same time.

"Let's get to sleep." He whispered to her. She was already halfway there though. She was wondering why he kept holding himself back. Was it because he knew she was scared? Was she pushing him away? Maybe he wasn't ready either. She didn't know how to deal with the situation she was in with him, and she didn't know how to talk to him about it. She thought that she may have attempted to if she wasn't getting absorbed by sleep.

The next morning came soon, but it was probably because of how late they were awake. Aang woke up with Katara in his arms, still sleeping. He smiled. Today was the day.

He lay there until Katara stirred and finally woke up. She looked around her as she woke up, then looked at Aang. He smiled.

"Good morning, beautiful." He said with a bright, wonderful smile.

She blushed. "Good morning."

He lifted himself up a little, placed his hand gently on her cheek and kissed her lips. "Happy birthday."

She smiled at him with a love filled expression. He thought she looked so gorgeous there, waking up beside him. Today was the day he had waited for with extreme anticipation. The day he would face his fears and ask for her to be his forever.

*** Yeah bad stuff over with! That wasn't so bad, was it? I have lots of free time tomorrow, so I will work more on the next chapter tomorrow.***


	12. I Won't Go

*** K, I know you've all been waiting for this! But again, I had to divide the looong chapter into 2. Enjoy!***

"Ow! That hurts!" Katara complained as Mai brushed a comb through her thick hair.

"It's not _my _fault your hair is so tangled." Mai replied.

Katara was having her hair done and getting a royal treatment, since it was her birthday and all. Mai insisted on doing her hair, and next Suki was going to do her makeup. Tai Lee was also there to give her the ultimate rub down with her massaging techniques and Toph was just there to hang out with the girls.

It was no surprise to any of them that she was found in Aang's room that morning instead of her own. He was very protective of her, always has been, and the events that happened the night before must have drove him crazy.

When it was Suki's turn to pamper Katara, she requested that Suki not put too much makeup on her. Just some facial lotions and very light makeup was all she wanted.

Suki laughed at her. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna do your face like a Kyoshi warrior or something."

At one point during the preparation, Suki offered Katara a cup of tea and winked at her. She knew exactly what Suki was getting at, so she declined the tea. But a little later, when Suki had a chance, she snuck Katara a pouch of the herbs she had told her about the day before. Katara blushed furiously as Suki hid the small pouch among Katara's clothing.

"Trust me, you want to have this. You know… just in case things… happen." Suki grinned.

Katara's protest was defeated and she sighed.

The girls took most of Katara's morning, which was fine for Aang because he had some things to do before her birthday banquet later. He took up Appa and spent a while trying to find a good, secluded area in the highest parts of the forests surrounding the Fire Nation palace.

As he scored the highs in his search, he saw an island in the distance a bit far off the coast. He became curious, so he flew off towards it. It was a pretty big island, and after flying around it for a bit, Aang concluded that it was uninhabited by people. It was probably due to the fact that nearly the entire island was made up of high mountain ranges.

Something caught Aang's eye in the distance, so he flew in closer. It was a big clearing with a large spring. A waterfall cascaded into the water, creating a beautiful, serene look to the area. Aang flew to the ground and hopped off of Appa. He walked around, checking the place out. There were trees lining the outer perimeters of the clearing, aside from the tall, stone wall by the waterfall. Off to the side of the spring was a large, nook like structure indented into the stone wall. It was almost like a shallow cave. Aang inspected it. It went about 20 feet in, and the floor was laid with the same soft grass as the rest of the clearing. Aang looked back at the spring and walked up to it. As he got closer, he could see a little steam lining the top of the water. He reached out his hand and glided it lightly over the water's surface and made a silent gasp.

It was a natural hot spring. The water wasn't too hot, it was very warm and just right. He turned and glanced out at the area he had just discovered, then smiled.

This is perfect! He thought to himself. He ran over to Appa and hauled his things up and off of the bison and got to work.

It was early afternoon when the girls were done with Katara. She felt amazing, and she certainly looked so as well according to her friends. Katara went to go meet with her father and the girls followed her like they were her groupies or something. He was found in the front courtyard.

"There's my birthday girl!" He said as Katara approached him. He brought her into a tight hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks dad." She said as they broke away from the hug. "Sooo… what are you doing out here? Are you going somewhere?"

"There are ships coming in from the Northern and Southern tribes, and I'm about to go meet with them."

Katara's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yep, they're here to celebrate your 16th birthday!"

"Dad, it's not _that _big of a deal, you know…"

"Of course it is. You're be coming of age, Katara. It's always been widely celebrated, and you're the daughter of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, _and _you're a hero! You played a major role in ending the 100 year war. Katara, you're a big deal."

Katara sighed. She wasn't going to lie and say she didn't like the attention, but this may have been a bit much.

There were a lot of people that came in from the water tribes. The ships of the South came in first, and Gran Gran was on the first one, along with Master Pakku. Katara was so excited to see her grandmother. She gave her a tight hug, and then gave Pakku a not so tight hug. Sokka came out shortly after to greet everyone too. Gran Gran was excited to hear about Sokka's engagement to Suki and started questioning them about great grandchildren.

As the other ships started coming in, Katara's girlfriends ushered her back into the palace saying that the main attraction of the day shouldn't be seen till later when she was finished getting ready.

The girls followed Katara to her room so they could be shown the dress that Katara had bought for her special day. When she took it out, the girls all drooled over it. Even Mai seemed a bit impressed at the gown.

When they were about to leave her room, Katara went to her dresser for her mother's necklace and found that it wasn't there. She swore she left it there, then began to worry that maybe she was still wearing it the night before and it fell off of her in the forest somewhere. Mai and Tai Lee volunteered to go search for the necklace, and they left right away.

Aang got back to his room about an hour before Katara's party was going to start. He decided that he probably needed to bathe, so he went to his bathroom and started up the water. Before he got in, Sokka came knocking at his door. Aang let him in, and Sokka closed the door behind him. He looked at Aang and folded his arms over his chest.

"So…" Sokka began." You're really gonna go through with this, huh?"

Aang looked away and smiled. "Yes, I am. It's the perfect time. I'm just…" Aang hesitated.

"Just what?" Sokka asked.

"Well... I just hope she says yes." Aang said with sadness in his voice. "I'm actually really worried she might not."

"Aang, I'm sure everything will go great." He encouraged his friend. "I still don't see why I had to go and steal her necklace though."

Aang smiled. "I just thought it would be… I dunno, better if she wasn't already wearing one when I gave her mine. And it's not like I or anyone else can tell her to not wear her necklace because she might suspect something."

Sokka thought for a minute, rubbing his hand on his chin. "Yeah, you have a good point I guess."

"Sokka, you're the only one that knows I'm doing this today. Please! Don't tell _anyone_! Not even Suki!"

"Yeah yeah, I know. My lips are sealed." Sokka reassured him.

After their chat, Sokka left so Aang could finish getting ready. After his bath, he contemplated on what he should wear. He thought of dressing in something fashionable and nice for the occasion, but he ultimately decided on wearing his monk robe. He didn't wear it that often, and he thought that it would be appropriate for the special occasion. His monk robe was the symbol that told everyone who saw him that he was the Avatar. And today, he wanted to be next to his girlfriend as the Avatar for everyone, including the younger men, to see that she was the girlfriend of the Avatar.

Aang grinned to himself.

"I don't want to do this anymore!" Katara said. "There's just too many people in there! This is too much!"

"You'll be just fine dear!" Toph said, smiling.

Katara was just outside of the giant hall where everyone awaited the birthday girl. She was wearing her stunning blue dress and her hair was completely down, wavy and beautiful. She was so nervous about being the center of attention like this that she was already planning her different escape routes in her head.

"Aang's in there, you know, waiting for you." Mai said with a smirk.

Katara looked at her with furrowed eye brows, then looked away again and sighed.

Inside, Aang was with Sokka, Zuko and Iroh. Iroh had planned on going home to Ba Sing Se but decided to stay until after Katara's birthday. Aang was feeling restless and anxious. Sokka saw that Aang's hand that was holding his drink was shaking a little, then he looked up at Aang.

"Seriously, you really should try to calm down." He said to Aang. "It's not like all the guys in the room are going to run up to Katara the moment she walks in and not give you a chance to get close to her."

Aang wanted to tell Sokka that wasn't the reason why he was so nervous and he was an idiot for not knowing why, but he didn't because it was a secret that he wanted to keep for now. Maybe Sokka said that as a cover for his nervousness.

Just then, the entrance of the hall opened, and there was Katara with Suki, Toph, Mai and Tai Lee. Aang's jaw dropped as he beheld the beauty of the girl in the ocean blue dress with matching eyes. He felt paralyzed for a moment, not being able to do anything because he wanted to keep looking upon her, dress flowing along the curves of her body as she slowly made her way into the room. When he realized that all the other young men staring at her were probably under the same spell Aang was in, he quickly got his composer and made his way through the crowd and to Katara before an obstacle of men was in his way.

When he reached the group of girls, he placed himself in front of Katara and just stared at her in awe. She blushed as her looked at her. He held out his hand and she placed her hand in his. He bent his head and kissed the back of her hand, then looked up and smiled at her.

"You are the most gorgeous site in all the nations, Katara." He said to her. Her cheeks flushed even more and she smiled bashfully at him.

Still holding her hand, the couple made their way to the crowd in the room.

"I don't want to be here." Katara whispered to Aang.

"Where do you want to be then?" Aang whispered back.

"I… dunno, just not here. There are too many people and I just think it's ridiculous. It's just my birthday, it's not like I'm getting married today or something."

Aang blushed furiously at her last comment, but thankfully Katara wasn't looking at him so she didn't notice. He had contemplated on whether or not he wanted to give Katara the necklace in front of everyone here or if he should do it later when they were alone. He thought the public way would have made it exciting, but he was way too nervous for that now, and seeing as how Katara felt about the party made him want to do it even less. He wasn't even sure if he had the courage to do it at all at this point.

It was mostly people that Katara knew that were talking with her. There were a lot of people she didn't know that were there from the Northern Water Tribe, but it was customary for them to be there for such an important person's coming of age birthday. As the party went on, the buffet dinner was eventually served, and of course Sokka was first in line. Everyone ate and speeches were made by some of the people that were closest to Katara. Sokka made a comment about him not having his 16th birthday bash. Hakoda said it was because they were off saving the world so he didn't get his. People laughed at Hakoda's statement and Sokka scowled.

Aang couldn't help but notice some of the glares he was getting people in the room. All which were young guys of course, they didn't look too happy either. It was probably because the prize of the evening was obviously spoken for, so all of their excitement about coming to see the jewel of the Southern Water Tribe as they were on their ships coming here was all for nothing.

Maser Pakku and some of his student did a performance, and some firebenders, along with Zuko and Iroh, decided to join in on the performance to make it more interesting. It was an exciting displace of water and fire, and everyone cheered when it was over.

It was hours into the party, and Aang looked out a window and saw the sun was going to start setting soon. He looked at Katara next to him. She was looking a bit bored, and it seemed that everyone around them were in conversations and not really paying close attention anymore. He leaned in and whispered to her

"Let's get out of here."

Katara's eyes widened and she looked up at Aang, who was grinning. She smiled and nodded her approval. Aang took her hand and the couple made their way stealthily through the crowd and toward the great hall's balcony. When they reached the balcony, they hurried to the edge. Aang swept Katara off of her feet and he jumped off the 2nd floor balcony and airbended them to a safe landing. Still carrying Katara, he made his way toward Appa's barn.

"Where exactly are we going?" Katara asked as Aang helped her up onto Appa's back.

"You'll see." Aang said. "It's a surprise! Kind of a… birthday present." He smiled bashfully.

Appa went up into the air and circled around to the coast of which the island was off of. Appa was flying over the water in no time.

As Katara looked out at the disappearing Fire Nation behind her, she began to get very nervous suddenly. She turned to see the island they were approaching. It was a secluded island made up of what looked to be only mountain ranges. Her nervousness was coupled with complete excitement. She had no idea what to expect. What could possibly be there for her on an island of mountains, she wondered.

It didn't take Aang very long to find the spot he discovered earlier, especially since they still had some daylight left. When they were just above the area and were about to land, Katara gasped. It was beautiful. The clearing was a lush of trees, grass and flowers with a waterfall into a spring. The place looked beautiful… and romantic. She suddenly blushed.

"What is this place?" She asked in awe.

"Well… I've been looking for a special place to take you on your birthday… A place just like this. When I found this area, I thought it was perfect. It's somewhere far from everyone where we can relax and just be.. you know, alone. There's a hot spring, and we can fall asleep under the sky while watching the stars…"

Fall asleep under the stars? Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Aang noticed her reaction. "We don't have to stay here if you don't want. I mean, I just thought it would be nice to be alone without distractions and such, but if you don't want to…"

"No, it's fine." Katara said, recovering from her embarrassment. "Actually… I really like this." She shyly took his hands in hers in a way of appreciation. "It's so lovely here, I really like it." She smiled sweetly to him.

He smiled back at her. He wanted to lean in and kiss her, but he found that he was suddenly too shy to make a move. She seemed to have the same problem. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand and looked at the ground.

"Sooo…. You wanna go for a swim?" He asked.

"Ok!" She replied

They walked over to the spring and Katara dipped her fingers in to test the temperature.

"Wow, it's actually really warm." She said.

Aang slipped his robe off, then his pants. Under it, he wore dark brown shorts that clung to his skin loosely and went down almost to his knees. A sash fell over the front and backside of the shorts. Katara blushed at the sight of him. She began trying to remove her dress, but found it was difficult to do on her own.

"Umm… could you help me with this?" She asked shyly.

Aang blushed and swallowed hard, but he went to her and undid the hooks on the back of her dress for her and helped her take it off. He had seen her many times in her under bindings before while they traveled together, but things were a little different now, and because of the dress, or so he thought, her under cloths looked a bit different. They were covering less of her.

His gaze followed her body as she dipped herself into the spring water, then he followed. There was more than enough room to swim around in, but they didn't swim very much.

Katara came up out of the water after doing a round, moving her hands up and sliding them over the top of her head to move her hair away from her face. That simple, little gesture seemed so sensual to Aang. He was nearly drooling at the sight of her in the unusual white cloths. He had seen her naked once before, and her bare body had been the most wonderful thing his eyes had ever seen. He had managed to control himself until now, not giving into his desires and completely taking her. He told himself he was waiting for the right time, but he wondered if it was just because he was scared. He was worried about overwhelming her and scaring her. He loved this girl so much, and he didn't want to spoil anything about her or his relationship with her. But looking at her now, her sensual curves and the way she moved, the way her lips danced with her words, her eyes and the way she looked at him, it was just so hard to hold himself back anymore.

She looked at him and noticed his stare. She blushed, but kept his gaze. She wondered what he was thinking about, wondered about the things that were going through his mind. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't. She wanted to walk up to him and wrap her arms around him in an embrace and hold him, but she couldn't. Something was holding her in place at that moment, and she couldn't figure out what it was. Her body was tingling with excitement and fear. She wanted this, she wanted to finally be alone with him and not worry about others interrupting them. She wanted to have these moments with him right now. But now that she had him here with her, completely alone, she had no idea what to do. She was too scared to make a move. She was too scared to show him how much she loved him. Was this really all a natural thing? Or was it her?

Aang finally looked away and at the water, thinking quickly of something to say. Then he smiled and looked back at her.

"Do you want to waterbend with me?" Aang asked.

"Sure!" Katara said, thankful for the release of the tension.

Katara got herself into position, then lifted water from the spring and created a flowing stream in the air, slowly moving in a circular motion. Aang then created another one, and they both went around in the circular motion, Aang controlling one, Katara controlling the other. Eventually, they broke from the circular motion, swirling the separate streams around each other. The steams of water looked beautiful dancing around each other in the light of the sun set. The benders were now putting more emotion into this water dance, as if it were Katara and Aang themselves dancing. They focused on their movements, swirling the steams closer and closer together but never coming together, as if they were too shy to bring them together to become one. Katara moved her gaze from her water stream to Aang. He was looking right at her. It surprised her, but she didn't falter. They stared at each other intensely, almost sweating at the anticipating of something about to happen. Aang's breathing got heavier, as did Katara's.

They continued to keep their gaze in each others' eyes, passionately moving their streams of water around each other, closer and closer. Then finally, they brought them together. They held it in place there, forming a sphere. Then it started to warp and form the shape of a heart.

Katara gasped softly at the water structure that Aang created, then looked at Aang again. He was looking at her with soft passion in his eyes. They gazed at each other for another moment longer, then the water came crashing down into the spring. Katara gasped in surprise at the splash. Aang moved his hands out, pushing the water back, then brought his hands back with force and it created a wave that picked Katara up with it and brought her body toward him. She crashed into him with only a small impact, and as she did he wrapped his arms around her and placed his lips over hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Their lips moved slowly around, creating a rhythm, then Aang parted her lips with his lips and slipped his tongue in her mouth. He brushed it against hers and she slid hers against his right back. Their tongues danced in and out of each others' mouths, and he pulled her tighter against him.

Katara started getting excited when she remembered once again that they were alone. No one was going to interrupt them this time. She wanted this, but she couldn't help but to feel anxious.

A tingling swept through her as she felt his hands move slowly to her sides, and then down the length to her hips. He softly squeezed her hips. He hesitated, but his hands slowly made their want around to her backside. He gently rubbed his hands over each round of her backside with each hand, and she softly moaned against his lips as he gently squeezed and push her toward him at the same time. Her hands slipped from his neck and lay over his chest, then she broke from the kiss and look intently into his eyes.

"I love you, Aang." She said softly, almost a whisper.

"Katara…" He breathed her name out heavily. He moved his arms around her, bringing her close again. "I love you too." He whispered against her lips. "I love you so much." He brought their lips together again with force. They both held each other tight, desperately trying to be as close as possible. But Aang broke from the kiss and stared into her eyes again.

"I won't go." He suddenly said, breathing heavily.

Katara looked confused. "Won't go? Where?"

"I won't go traveling around the nations again." He said. "I'll stay here, or anywhere… just… in one place… with you. We can live somewhere together, like… in the Southern Water Tribe, or in Ba Sing Se, or at the Southern Air Temple. Anywhere… anywhere you want." There was so much adoration in his expression and so much passion in his voice. Katara stared at him wide eyed, speechless.

"I want to be with you, Katara, more than anything and I will do anything to make you happy and give you what you want." He continued. "If you don't want to keep traveling around with me, I will happily settle down and live with you somewhere… where we can live a normal life…"

He hesitated for a moment, then turned and went through his clothes that were on a rock by the edge of the spring where they were and pulled out a box. Katara looked at him strangely, then looked at the box.

"This is your birthday present from me…" He said shyly, his cheeks completely red. "That is… if you want it."

He closed his eyes for a moment, took in a deep breath, then opened them again as he exhaled out. Then, controlling his shaking hands as best he could, he opened the box.

Katara gasped.

Inside the box was a beautiful blue stone carved in the shape of a heart with a water symbol and an air symbol, each taking up one half of the heart. It shimmered, even with the small amount of light left outside. Under the stone was piled the lace that made up the necklace.

"Katara…" Aang said as tears welled up quickly in her eyes and she placed her hands over her quivering mouth. " Will you marry me?"

*** Wow! I made quite a few typos in this one. But I just fixed them (hopefully all of them...) Please leave reviews and let me know what you think! The story is almost finished. At least 2 more chapters, but maybe I'll add more, don't know yet... Next chapter is almost done! And it's pretty 'steamy'... Heheheee***


	13. Secluded Paradise

*** I'm soooo so sorry for making you guys wait. I've had a very busy past week. But hopefully the wait was worth it. =) And as always, please leave reviews and let me know what you think.***

*** CAUTION! MATURE STUFF AHEAD!***

Katara squeezed her eyes shut and tears poured down her face. She couldn't believe it. She hadn't anticipated this happening, but it was happening. She was filled with an incredible kind of feeling, one she couldn't put into words, a feeling she had never felt before in her life.

A cry escaped the back of her throat as the tears fell from her face and into the water below. Aang's heart was racing and he was holding his breath. Then finally, she nodded quickly.

"Yes!" She cried out softly.

She looked up at him, tears still dripping from her eyes, and Aang stared at her, stricken with surprise. He let go of the breath he was holding and then his own tears began to build up in his eyes. Katara wiped her tears away with the heal of her hand, then looked at Aang again with the happiest smile in the world. Aang's heart pounded in his chest. His hands were almost shaking when he took the necklace out of the box, set the box aside on the rock behind him with their clothes on it, then faced her again.

He had just proposed the girl he had been in love with for 3 years, loved since the moment he met her, the first and only girl he had ever loved, and he was now at a complete loss for words. So he next did what he thought was the right thing to do. He held up the necklace slightly, and Katara, her hands shaking, pulled back her hair and lifted it up. Aang moved up right against her front and clamped the necklace around her neck. With Aang's body so close to hers as he placed the necklace on her, she felt a surge go through her body and her breathing got deeper. When he backed up to look at his fiance, his heart pounded once more. The sight of Katara wearing his betrothal necklace around her neck made him sink into an impossible eternal bliss. He took her hands in his, still staring at her.

"You said yes…" He said with a soft cry of happiness. "You really said yes… You're going to be mine… forever… my wife…"

"Aang…" Katara said softly. "You have no idea how happy you've made me." Her voice was starting to catch as her eyes filled up again with tears. "We've been through so much together, and you've become an irreplaceable part of my life. It doesn't matter to me where we go or the things we have to go through, the new obstacles we're going to face and the hardships that will follow us. As long as you're with me, that's what matters to me the most. I'll travel the world with you ten times over if you needed me to. I'll stay with you… forever." Tears started streaming down her face again, and Aang quickly wrapped her up in his arms and held her tightly.

For the moment he held her there, it was as if everything around them, time and space, just seized to exist. Everything was gone, time had stopped, and there was just him and Katara. Nothing else mattered. Nothing but her.

Katara backed away slightly, still in his arms, and looked up at him. He stared into her overpoweringly beautiful eyes and then suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. He closed the gap between their faces and kissed her full on her lips. It was forceful, but it seemed gentle as well. It was so passionate. It was almost like they had never kissed before, and it was the first time.

He was eager to taste her. His tongue lightly touched her bottom lips and she caught it with hers. The intensity was building up as he brought his tongue into her mouth. Aang slid his hand up her back and then back down again, their breaths hard against each others' cheeks, not wanting to take their lips off each other. They continued on with a pattern of kissing and stopping to stare at each other, as if neither one of them could believe what was happening right then and there, and then they would bring their lips together again. It followed on for a while, each kiss bringing their hearts, and bodies, closer together.

Aang slid his hand back up her back and pulled at her bindings. He brought his other hand up, and together his hands worked to undo the cloth. Katara began to feel more nervous with his advancements. When the bindings came undone, he pulled them from her body and let them fall into the water. He did not stop kissing her to look down at what he had just uncovered, he simply just pressed his bare chest against hers and relished over the feeling of the skin contact.

His hands were very slowly maneuvering all over her back and her sides, slightly caressing and pushing her more toward him. Then his hand made its way down again to her backside, this time slipping his hand under her bindings. Katara let out a small whimper and kissed a little harder. The feeling of her skin there was amazingly soft and plump. He slipped his other hand underneath and caressed her. Her breathing hitched at the powerful force he was putting on her.

He moved his hands around more, fingers sliding along the divide of her cheeks, then pushed and pulled to loosen the bindings, using some waterbending since this part of her was under the water. The bindings came undone and floated away from her body. She exhaled forcefully at the surprising sensation over what he had just done and moved away from the kiss. She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. Aang stared back at her, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked her, trying to not to let his desperation be heard in his words.

The question sent a shock through her body, and her womanhood began to pulse. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her thigh muscles together. Aang saw she was frightened, and he felt ashamed for making her feel this way. He was about to apologize and pull away from her, but then she gave him her answer.

"No."

She looked back up at him. The fear in her eyes was coupled with passion and need for him. His eyes widened and mouth barely fell open.

He leaned his face in close to hers, breathing heavily with anticipation. "I will stop, if this is too much for you…" He said with a little desperation in his quivering voice.

"No." She whispered, with desperation showing in her tone as well.

He stood there, his forehead leaned in against hers, their heavy breaths colliding together between them. And then, his left hand found its way to the middle of her back, while the other found its way down her stomach and even further. She exhaled forcefully and brought her hands up to his chest when his fingers made contact. He lightly stroked them against her folds till he let a finger slip through them to find her clit. She moaned and grabbed his shoulder. His lips were slightly parted and barely touching the side of her cheek as he breathed heavily. He moved his head down and kissed her neck. She reacted with a small shiver, and he kissed it again, licking and slightly sucking. He placed kisses along her neck and jaw line and when he got to her ear, she gasped and almost moved away. The tickling felt so good that it was almost too much to handle.

He began to press harder between her folds, and she let out a soft cry. Aang nearly lost it over the passionate sounds she was making. He wanted more of her.

Katara felt like she was reaching the edge, but then he slowed down and removed his hand. She looked up at him. His eyes were burning with desire and it almost made her melt. He leaned in and kissed her, pulling her body close to his. She felt him press up against her womanhood with his erection in his shorts, and her eyes shot open instantly. His hands moved to her bare backside and pressed her hips toward him. She moaned with pleasure, making her break from the kiss. Aang breathed hard as his heavily lidded eyes stared into hers.

He then back up a little, bent slightly and pulled up her legs and cradled her up in his arms. The sudden move surprised her and made her even a little confused. He got up and out of the water, carrying her.

He came up to an already arranged bed of blankets in the nook of the stone wall next to the spring they were just in. Katara saw the makeshift bed on the floor of the somewhat cave and her face heated up. She looked back up at him, and he knelt down and placed her gently onto the pile of comfortable, cushiony blankets.

He hovered over her, spring water still dripping off of him. He made a gesture with his hand and bended most of the water off of them and threw it to the grass far from them, never taking his eyes off of her. He looked down at her naked body, and lightly blushed. His hand glided along the smooth skin of her chest and her stomach, then to her hips and her thighs. He leaned in and kissed her lips tenderly, bringing his whole body closer to hers and bringing his left hand up and caressing her left breast forcefully. She moaned against his mouth.

His lips made their way from her lips to her neck, then down to her other breast he wasn't touching. His tongue swirled around the peak and Katara cried out softly.

Her cries and moans were only working to turn him on even more. He sucked lightly on her nipple, earning him another exotic sound from the girl under him. After having his way with her soft breasts for a while, he made his way down her stomach, leaving a trail of soft kisses and lifted her right thigh just a little and kissed the middle inner area of it.

Katara suddenly felt like she had no control over her body anymore. The excitement and anticipation shooting through her was so overpowering that she thought she was going to explode. His position made Katara feel even more nervous. His strong, amazingly sculpted body situated in front of her and hovering over her made her heart beat hard in her chest. Her apprehension was becoming stronger and it was showing in her innocent expression, and Aang couldn't help but feel more turned on by the look on her face. Her scent was suddenly more potent, and it was intoxicating to him.

He slid his right hand down past her stomach and gently touched her womanhood with his fingertips. She squirmed lightly as sparks were sent through her body, making her throb below his touch. He looked down at the place he was touching her and began to rub harder. His stare was making her feel uncomfortable, but before she could protest, he was suddenly looking back into her eyes. His stare was intense and full of passion and desire for her. Her heavy lidded eyes widened just a little in surprise. Then he slipped two fingers inside of her, making her expression more surprised as she gasped.

He leaned in close to her face and whispered into her ear as his fingers continued their work.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked in a sensual voice, not stopping the movement of his fingers. His hot breath on her ear made she shiver and her walls inside of her clenched around his fingers.

She exhaled hard. "No." She whispered back.

Her reply sent a powerful shock of excitement and lust through his body. He kissed her neck gently, then made his way back to her lips and kissed them. "Then I won't hold back anymore." He whispered to her into their kiss.

She wanted this so bad, she wanted to have this intimacy with him, but with the exhilarating desire she felt from his words and the feel of his touch also came a strong fear. And when he removed his fingers and his erection pushed up against her womanhood, she felt suddenly terrified. Her heart raced faster and her breathing got heavier again and he continued to rub himself against her.

There was a sound of blankets being moved around. Aang pulled a blanket halfway up and over their bodies. Then he reached for his shorts and began to pull then down his thighs. Katara could feel her skin crawling with anticipation, and Aang was having a similar sensation of his own. When he slowly pushed the rest of his clothing off with his foot, he placed himself again between her thighs and he lowered his body onto hers, keeping himself elevated a little with his arms on each side of her. She gasped at the feeling of his now exposed erection rubbing against her folds. From the feeling she got of him against her, he was huge, and it made her body shiver even more. She looked up into his eyes, and he looked back into hers. Their gaze held as he moved up and down, sliding himself along her womanhood and causing her to buck her thighs up slightly. He could see it in her that the fear was building up inside of her as he pushed forward with his advancements to reach where he now was with her. But despite the terror she felt, he could tell she wanted this. There was a desperation in her eyes.

She was so wet that he slid right past her folds and rubbed up against her clit. She squeezed her eyes shut and gasped silently as she turned her head to the side. He gently placed his hand on her cheek and moved her head back to face him. Still rubbing her with his erection, he lightly brushed his lips against hers a couple of times, then completely took her lips with his.

As he pushed his lips hard against hers, he began to rub himself on her harder. Their moans were muffled against each others lips as he kept sliding himself up and down on her. The feeling was amazing to her, and she felt herself reaching that edge again.

He was drowning in desire. He needed more of her. He wanted to feel her more. He wanted to be inside of her so desperately.

He kept sliding up and down, then suddenly he slowed down and slid just a little further down, letting his tip fall slightly to meet her entrance, then gently and slowly he pushed forward. Her eyes shot open. Her womanhood throbbed with anticipation as he pushed slowly into her very wet entrance. He came to the part where her inside walls felt completely closed off, like there was a wall completely bocking his way in. He did have some education about these things, and he knew what was coming next, and so did Katara.

He pushed himself forward again. Katara arched her back, gasping and crying out. He stopped pushing for a second and pulled away just a little, but only to just push in again. She moaned loudly in pain again, and her body was tensing up.

He stopped pushing for a moment and stared into her frightened eyes. "Katara…" He said sensually. "Just…. Relax…" He cooed, gently placing his hand at the side of her head. He kissed her, then gently pushed forward again. Then he kissed her neck and made his way to her ear. "I want to be deep… inside of you." He whispered passionately, sending chills down her body from the heat of his breath on her ear and the temptation in his words. He breathed out heavily and pushed in again at the same time. She whimpered at the little progress he was making, then he pulled back slightly again.

Cries escaped the back of her throat as he continued to push forward and pull back, slowly getting deeper and deeper, opening her walls up and making his way into her. The pressure she felt inside of her was incredibly powerful, nothing like she had ever expected. She had no idea how he could fit his huge self inside of her. But the juices her body kept releasing helped him to slide himself in more and more, until he slid almost all the way out of her, then pushed himself in again, this time completely breaking himself in.

"Sssss… ahhhh." Aang moaned as he felt her walls tight around him.

Katara cried out. She felt a heavy pressure between her thighs and inside of her, but the pain was now going away. Aang lay there, lay inside of her, not moving, and he was panting. His face was barely two inches away from hers, and he brought a hand up to her cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb. She hadn't even noticed she has cried from the pain. He left his hand there for a moment, staring at her watery eyes, taking in the blissfulness of being inside of her. Her naked form looked so fragile there underneath him, and he suddenly felt the need to be very gentle with her.

He kissed her lips softly. He pulled himself out of her very slowly, only to just slowly push himself back into her. She moaned as he did, but instead of in pain, she did it out of pleasure this time. He felt incredible relief from her change of tone in her moans and he continued his slow and gentle push and pull, in and out of her.

It felt amazing, nothing like he had ever felt before. It felt like every nerve in his body tingled with ecstasy every time he pushed himself into her. His body stayed low and close to hers, wanting to feel not just inside of her, but every part of her beautiful body against his skin. He hovered over her face, which twisted with pleasure every time he slid back in, their lips continuing to brush against each other. Her pain wasn't completely gone, but the sensations of pleasure coursing through her body was overpowering the pain of him stretching her. And every time he moaned, it sent shivers down her body.

His pleasure heightened immensely and he felt himself release a little bit inside of her. He pushed forward as far as he could, pushing deeper and deeper until he was as far as he could go. Katara cried out at the force of pressure. He stayed there for a moment, not moving. Then he began to pull out and then pushed back in again. Katara bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying out too loud. But his next push came a little faster and a little harder, and her teeth could no longer hold back her cries of enjoyment. Her fingertips dug into his back as he thrust back and forth into her, the pace a bit faster this time.

Aang raised himself up higher over her and looked down at her erotic form and lushious body, completely bare skinned save for the betrothal necklace around her neck. He moaned again as he slid into. When he came back out, he took hold of her hips and pushed into her hard and fast. Her eyes shot open from the immense exhilaration and she clenched the blanket below her. He thrust in and out of her faster now, feeling the incredible sensation building up all over his body. Aang could barely hold on much longer. The amazing feel of being in her, looking down at her gorgeous body and the erotic sounds she was making, drove him to meet his limits. This was the girl he loved and wanted for so long. And now being with her like this, being this close to her, inside of her, being like this with the girl he was so in love with, everything about this moment was magical and sacred to him in a way that seemed to him no one could ever understand. It was something he could never put into words. He felt like all the greatest things in the world were suddenly his.

He slowed down, lowered himself again, his chest touching hers now, and he kissed her hard and passionately before lunging into her again. His pace was fast and hard, and he was hitting a spot in her that was driving her crazy now. She felt her pleasure rising with each deep thrust he made into her, and he could feel her tightening around him, making him feel even more incredible. He whispered into her ear.

"Come with me."

As if there was some sort of magic in his words, her moans got louder and her body tensed up and her muscled around him inside her clenched. Then finally, a burst of ecstasy electrified throughout her whole body, mainly focused in between her thighs. As she climaxed, her tightening, pulsing walls around him pushed him to his own limit and he climaxed with her, his moan muffled against her lips.

It was nothing like either one of them have experienced before. And it was more than they had anticipated it to be. He made one last thrust into her, going as deep as he possibly could. He held himself there for a moment, then practically collapsed on top of her, but he was still mindful of his weight crushing her so he held his weight up a bit.

Even after they both came down from their orgasms, he could still feel her pulsing inside. He raised his head up to look at her. Her eyes were closed, and she was panting. She then opened her eyes and stared back at him through her heavy lidded eyes. He placed his hand on her cheek and rubbed his thumb there tenderly.

"I'm so in love with you Katara." He said passionately in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

"Aang…" She whispered back to him. She closed her eyes gently to the tender stroke of his thumb on her cheek.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world to get to have you for the rest of my life." He said against her lips.

"I love you so much, Aang." Katara whispered, tears building up in her eyes.

He kissed her again, long and softly. They worked their kiss into a gentle rhythm, lightly brushing their tongues together between their mouths and inside of their mouths. And as they continued, all the while he never pulled himself out from inside of her.


	14. Attached

*** I'm s sorry that my updates have been taking me longer. I have less free time now, but my iphone lets me type up rough drafts for me to put on my computer later, so I work on the story a bit away from home. So yeah, here's the next chapter finally! Oh and remember when I promised you a bushel of lemons?...

WARNING! Lots of mature stuff ahead! ***

He lay there peacefully, listening to the different sounds of the nighttime, with her snuggled next to him, her arm around his stomach, her head on his shoulder and her bare breasts pressed up against his side. He was in a completely blissful state of mind, not really thinking about anything. All that was on his mind was the girl in his arms. The girl he was in love with, the girl he was going to be with for the rest of his life. He kept playing those incredible words over and over in his head, smiling and thinking of how it was just too good to be true. He couldn't think of any time in his life where he had been anywhere near this happy. So he couldn't sleep, and he could tell by the way Katara was breathing that she wasn't asleep either. Her eyes were closed, but she was well awake, bathing her emotions in total happiness over the things that had happened that night. She laid there for a while, not even trying to sleep. She wanted to be awake to enjoy the comfort and closeness with Aang, wrapped in her embrace.

Aang was gliding his fingers along her arm for a while when she eventually stirred, moving her head a little and holding him just a little tighter.

"You should go to sleep now, Katara." Aang spoke softly to her, kissing her forehead.

"I don't want to sleep." She replied just as quietly, snuggling her head closer to his chest.

Aang grinned.

His light finger touches on her arm turned into a gentle caress. She looked up at him. He lifted his hand and touched her cheek gently, and he slowly and sensually moved in on her face and brought his lips to hers. She quietly moaned against his lips.

After caressing her cheek, then her neck and the nap of her neck, he let go of her lips, keeping his face just as close to hers and stared at her vibrant features in the dark. He slowly slid his fingers lightly down her skin to her chest. He glided his fingers gently around her soft breast, barely touching her nipple between his middle and index, then cupped her breast and caressed her passionately. She moaned again, and she wrapped her hand around to the back of his head, bringing him back to her lips. Their kiss continued on while he massaged and fondled her breasts, being gentle as if they were extremely delicate, until he eventually pushed her back onto her back. He moved away from her lips and brought his mouth to her breast. His tongue went all around the peak of her right breast, while his fingers pinched and rubbed her other one. She cried out in pleasure, grabbing his shoulders and squeezing them. Her gesture made him more excited. He sucked the peak of her breast, then caught it in a gentle and experimental bite, and she squirmed. He moaned, sending a slight vibration against the skin of her breast where his mouth was, then gently bit her nipple again, earning him another reaction from the girl he had pinned down. He moved his head to her other breast and continued on with what he was doing. Katara cried out again and she lifted her right leg up a little and brushed it up against Aang's side.

Her scent suddenly became potent, and it was intoxicating to him. He was going wild with desire. He caught her lifted thigh with his hand, then began to trail down to her stomach with opened mouth kisses. He wasn't shy with his tongue on her skin as he slowly crept further down, and the feel of his warm wet kisses made her nerves crawl with anticipation. The further his head went down, the more nervous she got and her breathing was getting heavier. He continued to move down, and she squeezed her eyes shut, too afraid to look down at him. Then she suddenly felt his lips over folds and she gasped. He brought his tongue completely out and against her folds and past to her clit. Katara threw her head back and arched her back, almost moving away from his sensual kisses to her womanhood. Aang grabbed both of her hips with his hands, his fingers pressed hard into the cheeks of her backside, pressed his mouth hard on her womanhood and buried his tongue in it, swirling it around and taking in the exotic taste of her that he was now loving. He pressed his tongue as hard as he could over her most sensitive spot and moved it all around over it. He then moved downward a little more and his tongue ringed around her entrance, taking in her juices of pleasure. And he loved the taste. He moaned against her womanhood, and it sent chills down her whole body.

Katara squirmed from the overwhelming pleasure he was giving her, so much that she was slightly moving herself up and away from him, but he kept a firm hold of her by her hips and kept on going. Katara was overwhelmed with the incredible sensation of his tongue taking her this way, but she couldn't help but feel very embarrassed as well. Her cries of pleaser were coupled with whimpers that she couldn't hold back. Aang looked up at her from where he was and beheld her face twisted with pleasure and embarrassment, her cheeks flushed and her eyes squeezed shut. It made him feel more excited.

He kept going, and she kept making her distorted squirms and sounds of confused pleasure, but he eventually stopped and looked up at her with desire beaming from his eyes. She caught his glance through her heavy lidded eyes. He brought his arm up and wiped his mouth hard with it, then he brought himself up back to her face for another forceful kiss before he turned her over, facing her away from him. She was completely caught off guard and was surprised by his sudden moved. Her back was facing him, and he looked down and saw her bare backside for the first time. He blushed furiously as he took her luscious, plump butt cheek in hand, squeezing and caressing it. Katara blushed brightly at the realization of what he was staring at, and she became incredibly embarrassed. He continued to stare in awe as he moved his hands around her pump, soft lumps. He slid his right hand down further, his index finger gliding down the middle between her cheeks, until he made his way under and to her womanhood. Katara felt chills from the caressing fingers, and she made a silent gasp and squirmed a little when his finger touched the rim of her entrance. Aang watched as she moaned quietly and rocked her hips a little to his touch. His eyes stayed fixed on her lush butt cheeks as he slid his finger inside of her, gushing at the sight of the way her cheeks moved as she swayed her hips in pleasure at his touch. Her embarrassment was growing, but before she could turn over to face him to interrupt his stare, he removed his finger and moved closer to her and his chest was now against her back. She made a silent gasp as he rubbed his erection against her backside. He reached his hand down and grabbed her right hip, then slid it over to her cheek and rubbed and caressed her again. She grabbed the blanket under her and clenched it as she felt him move his erection between her thighs, where his hand just was, rubbing below her cheeks and then her womanhood. He brought his right hand around to her womanhood in front and pressed his fingers through her folds and rubbed her clit. Katara gasped and tightened her grip on the blanket.

With his other hand, he repositioned his tip toward her entrance from behind her and pushed. At first, the position made it difficult, but he pushed past her thighs and made it to her entrance. She gasped at the feel of his tip entering her. He pushed further and deeper into her, moaning as he made progress. It was hard enough to get himself deep in her as it was, with how big his thickness and length was and how tight she was, and although this position felt very different and incredibly good, it was hard to get himself very far into her. It felt different this way to her, too. Somehow, it felt incredibly amazing. He pulled out and pushed back in as far as he could, and she cried and moaned as he made his thrusts. He removed his right hand from her front, brought it back around behind her and lifted her right thigh up a little. He bent his thick, strong leg up just a little to angle himself better, then he thrust into her harder.

Aang looked down again at her backside and watched as the waves of the juicy muscles in her cheeks rippled from him slamming against her. Intensity coursed through her nerves every time he pushed himself in. It felt so good, making her whimper and cry out in pleasure. He was hitting that sensitive spot in her from a different angle this time, and her body was wild with ecstasy all over again. Her fists tightened around the pieces of blankets she was grabbing onto.

After a while, he slowed down his pace and eventually pulled out. She laid there for a moment, then turned to face him. He bent down to kiss her, turning her body the rest of the way around and onto her back. He lowered himself onto the front of her body and thrust his still hard erection into her, making her cry out. She was extremely wet, making it easier now to move in and out of her. It was such an amazing feeling. Aang moaned softly in to her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Aang…" She cried out quietly.

The erotic sound of his name on her voice made him shudder with excitement and he heavily breathed out another moan.

"Katara." He whispered into her ear, pushing in and out slowly now. Then he breathed heavily against her ear. "Does it feel good?" As the question left his lips, he slowly pushed himself into her, deeper and deeper, pushing her thighs up a little higher and more apart as his progress was made. She cried out a long, sensual moan as he reached deeper into her than before, until all of him was inside of her.

"Yes…" She whimpered. "It feels…. really… good…"

A hard breath escaped him, bring with it a moan of pleasure. He pulled almost all the way out and slowly pushed himself back in, not going all the way in this time. He was afraid of hurting her if he went too far, but her approval gave him the permission he desperately wanted to carry out his desire to penetrate her deeper with his full length. He lifted himself up enough to look down and see himself coming out of her as he pulled out. He continued to watch as he pushed himself into her again, watching himself disappearing deeper into her. Katara moaned long and sensually as he pushed deeper in, until her folds were pushed up against the lowest part of his torso and he was all the way inside of her again. He moaned, relishing over the feel of being inside of her.

He lowered himself against her again, and he continued to thrust slowly in and out of her, pushing himself further now than he did before. Katara continued her erotic sounds from the stimulating feeling of him reaching further into her.

After another moment, Aang began to slow down more until he completely stopped. He laid there for a moment on top of her, then lifted himself up slightly to look down at her. He bent down to take her lips. He wasn't done yet, but he paused, still in complete awe over what was going on, and it was hard to not think that this was a dream and he would wake up any minute. He would wake up in his bed, alone. And Katara wouldn't have her necklace he made for her, she wouldn't be his fiancé.

But it wasn't a dream. It was real. And she _was_ his fiancé now. He was really here right now, making love to her and unfolding all of his desires out with her. He moved away from her lips and looked down at her naked body lying below him, continuing his wonderful realizations. He would get to be with her every day for the rest of his life; he would get to see this alluringly beautiful naked body of this enchantingly beautiful girl for the rest of his life.

A wide grin spread across his face.

He slowly pulled out of her, and she squeezed her eyes shut and squirmed slightly in disappointment as he did. He scooped her up in his arms and lifted himself up, carrying her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, startled.

"We're goin back in the water." Aang said excitedly.

Katara's eyes widened, and she almost laughed at him. He carried her over to the spring, airbended to lift himself and Katara up into the air and landed into the spring with a splash. They laughed as water rose up around them, soaking them in the warmth. Aang loosened his hold on her in the water, and she got away from his embrace. The sudden feeling of being in the water, completely naked with no clothes bound to her, was like a kind of freedom she had never felt before. She swam to deeper water and dove under, and Aang followed.

The spring wasn't that deep, only a little over twice the length of her height. She swam around, feeling the warmth and freedom of the water all over her bare skin, taking in the wonder and joy of the moment she was in. Aang came up behind her, and she turned to face him as he wrapped his arms around her for a moment. It was difficult to see much, being underwater and all. Aang swam a slow circle around her, then took her hand and they made their way to the surface. They both gasped, taking in air as they surface, then swam to where their feet could touch the ground in the water.

"Wow, this is amazing." Katara said with excitement. "I never swam…. naked… before." She said, blushing.

"Neither have I." Aang replied. "It feels awesome. It's soothing, and comforting to feel the water all over you."

"Yeah…" Katara said, averting her eyes and smiling.

Aang moved up close to her, turned her head with both of his hands on her cheeks to face him, and she stared up into his illuminated gray eyes. She was suddenly awe struck as his eyes, filled with a powerful love and desire for her, stared down into hers. She slowly moved her hands up his chest, and then leaned up and took his lips. They had kissed countless times that night, but each time their lips met, it sent a shock of excitement through both of their bodies.

Aang moved a hand around to the back of Katara's head as he deepened their kiss, moving his tongue into her mouth and circling it around hers. She moved her hands up and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he followed suit and wrapped his arms around the middle of her body.

After a while, he began to move their entwined bodies closer to the water's edge which had rocks that made up a sort of wall. He broke from the kiss, gestured with his hand towards the wall and bended the wall of earth to make it a smoother surface. He looked back at Katara, who looked at him with a slightly confused expression. He placed his hands on her hips and gently moved her up against the smooth earth wall he just created. She silently gasped as her back met the wall, but he covered her mouth with his again. His breathing got heavier as he pushed his body against hers. He moved both of his hands down to her breasts and caressed them hard and forcefully. Katara moaned against his lip as his hands moved all around her breast, squeezing them and rubbing her nipples with his fingers.

His hands made their way back down to her hips. He slid his hands around to her backside and pushed his erection against her womanhood. A soft moan escaped her throat again, and then he moved his hands down to the back of her thighs and lifted up her legs and wrapped them around him. Katara broke from their kiss. Aang's face hovered over hers, his breathing hard and his eyes heavily lidded. He moved his hips around, rubbing his erection against her more, and then he lowered his body a little more and placed his tip at her entrance and pushed his way into her. Katara cried out in pain. Their bodies were under water, and although her womanhood was still wet, the water now mixed with it was making it more difficult. But Aang continued to push himself in and out of her, making her release more juices, and after another moment it wasn't painful anymore. Katara wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders and placed a hand at the back of his head, moaning loudly as he thrust.

Katara's cries of pleasure continued as he penetrated her. She was completely lost in the moment of bliss, taking in the sweet feeling of her desires flooding her body. Aang began to push himself deeper into her. Deeper until he was hitting the limit of his length. Each time he pulled out, he would thrust all the way back into her, and the feeling was exhilarating. Katara squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as he reached deep into her. He moaned against her neck and whispered his sweet love for her into her ear, over and over again.

The intensity was building up again inside of him, and he began to thrust harder and faster into her. The action caused her pleasure to intensify and she tightened her hold on him. Her walls throbbed around him once again as she cried out loudly. Her body tensed up and he felt the walls close in on him as a seizure of ecstasy went through her body. Aang moaned deep and loud as he released inside of her, and Katara's loud cry of pleasure was slightly muffled against his shoulder.

"Aaaahhh Katara… I love you so much." Aang continued his whispers of love passionately to her as they came down from their orgasms, holding her tightly, as if she would disappear if he didn't. After a while, he finally detached himself from her and they made their way through the water and then out. Aang of course wouldn't let Katara go anywhere out of the water without him carrying her, so he carried her back to their comfortable bed of blankets. He placed her gently down and lay next to her, covering them with one of the blankets. She immediately brought her arm around him again in a snuggle. He turned his head to her, and they stared at each other with incredible love and insatiable desire in their gazes.

Katara brought her lips back to his, and they laid there for a long while, kissing deeply and passionately.

Despite how exhausted they both were, neither one of them wanted to stop. Eventually, Katara braved her hand down to touch Aang, and he was already hard again. She felt him with her fingertips, and he pushed his hips more toward her hand and she took him into a grip. She began to stroke him, and he moaned against her lips. She continued her experimental massaging for a while until he moved himself on top of her, causing her to remove her hand, and he positioned himself and slowly slipped his erection into her. Katara moaned her approval and wrapped her arms around his neck.

As Aang slowly thrust in and out of her, he never left her lips. His movements remained slow, pushing himself all the way into her and receiving rewarding moans of pleasure as he did. He took his time this time. He just wanted stay inside of her and make the night go on forever. But the night couldn't go on forever, and tomorrow would eventually have to come.

A lot of time passed while he slowly and gently made love to her. They only paused from their kissing to stare at each other, then they would just lock their lips again. It was only a couple of hours until sunrise when Aang released from her. But he lay behind and pushed himself back into her from behind, causing her to moan. He very slowly pushed in and out of her a few more time, then pushed himself as far in as he could go before he stopped. Katara somehow knew exactly what it was that he was doing. He wrapped his arm tighter around her, keeping himself inside of her, and was surprised to find that this was actually pretty comfortable. Katara snuggled slightly closer to him, then it wasn't too long before sleep finally claimed her. And Aang followed right behind her, and he fell asleep inside of her.

The bright sunlight was what woke Aang up, even though they had the shade of their shallow cave over them. He felt the heat of the sun rays on his half exposed back. He moved a little as he awoke, but stopped himself when he realized that he was still inside of the sleeping girl in his arms. His eyes widened for a moment, then a warm smile spread across his face and he reminisced over what happened the night before.

He held Katara a little tighter, waking her up. She moved a little, and he placed his hand on her hip and pulled back on it a little to keep her from pulling away too far and making him pull out of her. When she realized her position and that he was still inside of her, her cheeks flushed.

"Good morning, my love." Aang spoke lovingly to her, gently pulling her hair away from her neck and placing a kiss there.

"Good morning." She replied shyly yet passionately, blushing even more at the way he called her his love and placing her hand over his which was laid over her right breast. Aang was growing inside of her now. He pushed his hips forward, not being able to get very far since she wasn't wet anymore. But with just a little more movement, that wasn't a problem anymore. Katara moaned softly. He had made love to her all night long and was even inside of her as they slept, but he didn't want to be separated from her body. He didn't want to detach himself from her. And she felt the same way. This was all completely different and new to them both, and somehow, having him inside of her like this gave her the feeling of being complete. Like him being inside of her made her completely whole. Like the two of them were one.

"I don't want to leave you." Aang breathed slowly and heavily onto the part of her neck he exposed as he pushed himself slowly in and out of her. "I wish I could just stay here like this with you forever…" He breathed out heavy and forcefully. "… inside of you."

His words were arousing her immensely, and she arched her backside up and against him more. He moaned as she did and his hand gripped her hip as he moved. After another moment, he gently pushed her onto her stomach, moving onto her back as he did, never pulling himself out of her. His front laid over her back as his muscular legs straddled her and he continued to push into her. Katara was feeling overpowered by him, but it made her excited and she moaned loudly.

With his hands holding her hips, he raised her up slightly and thrust harder. She cried out in pleasure from the change of angle he was coming into her from. And it felt amazing. It wasn't very long until Aang reached his limit and released inside of her once again.

He collapsed on top of her, panting. After another moment, he lifted himself up a little, giving her room to turn over and face him. And Aang's jaw nearly dropped. She was amazingly beautiful, even after just waking up and her hair being all messy.

"Katara, you're so amazingly beautiful." He said passionately to her.

She smiled at him. "Yeah right." She said. "I just woke up. I probably look awful." She giggled.

"No, you don't!" Aang protested wide eyed. "You're so…"

He was cut off suddenly by her lips. Then she pulled back slightly and smiled at his surprised expression. "I think I would like to bathe now." She said.

Aang searched for his shorts in the blankets, and when he found them, he slipped them on. He awkwardly got up to his feet, his leg muscles, along with the rest of his body, tired from the night before. Katara wrapped a blanket around her body, then she started to get up. But her legs were wobbling and she stumbled over, and Aang caught her and her face squinted in pain.

"Are you alright?" Aang asked with a worried expression.

"I…" Katara struggled with standing. "I feel… really sore." She said with a slight whimper.

Aang's eyes widened and he blushed furiously. "Oh Katara… I'm so sorry. I… overdid it…"

Katara giggled. "It's ok. Suki said this might happen."

"Suki?" Aang gave her a questioning look. Then he blushed. "You guys… talked about this kinda stuff?"

"Well, yeah… kind of…" Then a shocked expression sprung on her face. "Oh! The herbs! I need to take them!"

Katara tried to rush to her dress that was still by the spring. She was having a hard time walking, so Aang helped her. She pulled a pouch of dried herbs out from within her dress and Aang looked at it curiously.

"Are these some kind of pain relief herbs?" He asked.

"No…" Katara blushed again and hesitated. "They're to… well, prevent pregnancy."

Aang's jaw dropped. "What? Why would you do that? Why would you take something like that?"

"Well I don't want to get pregnant. Not right…."

"You don't want to have children with me?" Aang cut her off with a hurt expression.

"Right now!" Katara said sternly, finishing her sentence. "I don't want to have children right now! I'm not ready... _we're _not ready."

"But doing that is wrong!" He continued to protest.

"No, it's not. I'm not hurting anyone or anything. I'm just preventing myself from getting pregnant. Aang, have you never heard of these kinds of herbs? It's a birth control for women, and it's commonly used."

Aang's distress showed all over his face. "It… just doesn't sound safe to me… I don't like it…"

"It'll be ok." Katara said with a warm smile as she placed her hand on his cheek. "We'll be traveling around for a while and I can't do that and be pregnant too."

"But I told you, I'm not going anymore."

"Yes you are, Aang. You have to. I know it's not going to be forever, but the world isn't at peace yet, and people need you."

"And I need you…" Aang said, taking her hands in his. "A whole lot more than anyone needs me." And that very need for her was showing strongly in his eyes.

Katara looked up at him wide eyed for a moment, feeling shy from his touching words. Then her expression soften, almost like she was going to cry.

Aang kept her gaze for another moment longer before he let out a sigh."We at least don't have to be constantly on the go…" He said, giving in a little.

"Aang…" Katara said lovingly. "I want to be able to enjoy our life together for a little while before we have a family together."

Aang's defeat was slowly showing in his expression. He couldn't help but to feel like using a birth control was wrong, he wanted things to all come naturally. But he knew she was probably right about not being ready. He placed his hands at the middle of her back, taking her blanketed up body into a loose embrace and stared down at her with a saddened expression.

"When we're ready…" Katara continued as she looked lovingly up at him, then blushed and looked bashful as her next words came out. "We will have children."

"A whole air temple of children." Aang added stubbornly.

Katara's eyes went wide and her cheeks went even more red. "Uhh… how many is that?"

Aang didn't answer. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her passionately.

*** Perfect ending, right?

K you win, I'm not done. I'll continue to work on the story and keep it going for a while. I've managed to come up with some great ideas. Thanx for reading, and please review and let me know what you think! Thank you!***


	15. Insecurities

*** Sorry this chapter is kinda short. I'm leaving in the morning for a 3 day vacation and I didn't want to wait till after I come back to post another chapter.***

Sokka was pacing frantically back and forth outside of Appa's barn house when Suki approached him. She sighed loudly and folded her arms over her chest.

"What?" Sokka asked, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"Come on, Sokka, they'll come back when they come back." Suki told him. "There's no use fretting over it. And standing around Appa's barn isn't gonna make them come back any sooner."

"I'm not standing around! I'm walking around..." Sokka corrected her. Then he stopped his pacing, looking more irritated. "They've been gone since last night! And it's already noon! Don't we, you know, have things that we need to do or something? Places to go, towns to rebuild?"

"Yeah, sure Sokka. I know you're upset cause Aang swept your sister off her feet and flew away with her. So what? Let them have their fun. They haven't really had any time alone together."

"That's the thing! They're alone! It makes me worried cause Aang was gonna…" Sokka realized quickly what he was about to say, and stopped himself before he finished his sentence and accidently blurted out Aang's plans of purposing.

Suki's eyes went wide and then she gave him a questioning look. "He was gonna what?"

"Nothing." Sokka said, folding his arms over his chest in an irritated manner.

Suki had a guess at what Sokka was gonna say, but she did her best to hide her sudden excitement and played dumb.

"Let's go out and do something." Suki said, grabbing Sokka's hand.

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Let's go out on a date. We can go shopping!"

Sokka's eyes lit up. "Ok!"

Suki giggled. He was so easy to distract. She led him away from Appa's barn house and towards the front gate to go out to the city.

"So what would happen if I drank think stuff?" Aang asked, holding a cup of tea he had just prepared for Katara using the herbs she had gotten from Suki and was now heating it up with his firebending.

"Um…" Katara looked baffled by his question. "I have no idea."

Katara still had a blanket wrapped around her. Her white wrappings were still floating off somewhere in the spring, and she didn't bother looking for them.

"You know… it's gonna be kinda embarrassing going back in that exquisite dress I had on last night." Katara said, then giggled. "And my wrappings are lost somewhere in the water."

"It's ok." Aang assured her. "I packed you some extra wrappings, and a change of clothes." He grinned and blushed.

Katara blushed as well. "Wow… you had this all planned out?"

"Well, not _all _of what happened was planned. I wanted to find a nice place for us to have a romantic night together..." He smiled warmly and blushed again. "I figured we'd be staying the night, so I went to your room and packed some things for you." His smile turned into another goofy grin.

Katara looked slyly at him. "Did you pack my mother's necklace in there too?"

"No, Sokka has it…" Aang suddenly looked shocked and he covered his gaping mouth with his hand.

Katara's jaw dropped. "Sokka? He has my necklace?"

Aang looked a bit scared. "Um… yeah… he sorta… took it out of your room before you got changed for your party last night."

"Why would he…." Katara's shocked expression melted away as she realized what Aang did. Aang had planned it so she wouldn't be wearing her mother's necklace when Aang gave her his betrothal necklace. He had it all planned out. He planned on purposing to her last night.

She then suddenly thought about her insecurities she had felt over their relationship, the pain she felt of not being able to have all she wanted with him. She didn't have any idea that Aang was this serious about spending his life with her . She hadn't even thought of the possibility of Aang purposing to her. Yet he did, and he planned it all out, just for her.

Katara's eyes began to water, and Aang gave her a concerned look. She looked like she was incredibly sad. But she wasn't. She was so happy she thought she could burst. She flung her arms around Aang's neck, nearly knocking the tea out of his hand. He was completely surprised and caught off guard. He set the cup down someplace on the ground that looked somewhat safe, and he wrapped her tightly in his embrace.

She had no idea why, but she was crying now. Her stress, her anxiety and all of her other emotions that had been building up inside of her over the past couple of weeks had finally exploded within her and she couldn't hold herself back anymore. Somehow, Aang understood what was happening to her right then, and he ran his mind through all of the emotions and fears he had within himself, thought of all the things they had been through and how much he loved her and held her close in his heart since the moment he met her. He once only just dreamed about having Katara be his, and now she was. He still couldn't fathom the reality, and he was overcome with joy over it.

She wept in his embrace, and while he still held her close, he placed his hand at the back of her head and spoke softly to her.

"Everything's gonna be alright."

It took her a while to get herself together. And when she finally did, Aang reheated her tea for her and gave it to her. But before he did, Aang made one last attempt to convince her not to drink it. Of course, it didn't work. She drank the tea and they soon found themselves back to their bed of blankets. Katara was still sore and couldn't walk correctly, and Aang managed to hold himself back from expressing his humor over the way she was walking. Something told him in the back of his mind that he'd be such a jerk for doing it, so instead he helped her. When they reached their 'nest', Katara went for her bag of things Aang had brought and went through it until she found her clothes he had packed, along with her under wrappings.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

Katara gave him a questioning look. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm getting myself ready to go."

"Go?" Aang's eyes widened. "Oh no, no. We're not going back yet. Not with the way you're walking right now."

Katara opened her mouth to question him further, but saw the 'duhh' look on Aang's face and decided to close her mouth before the words escaped her.

"It's already suspicious enough that we left for an overnight trip unannounced. I don't know if I'd live long enough to see our wedding day if we came home from just being together over night, you wearing a betrothal necklace and walking funny."

Katara's eyes widened and her cheeks turned bright red. She struggled with words for a moment before she finally said, "Well…. What should we do then?"

"Let's just wait another night. I'll find you some pain relieving herbs and hopefully tomorrow you'll be…. walking normal." Aang said with a shy grin at the end of his sentence. Then he thought for a moment. "Although…. it's going to be hard to hold myself back from…. you… for the rest of the day…"

Katara giggled at him, then snuggled into him in a sitting up cuddling position with him. They stayed like that for a while, neither one saying anything. After a while, though, Aang set out to fulfill his promise on some pain relieving herbs. It didn't take him long to find the right plants he needed, and he was soon brewing up tea again.

"What the heck is Aang thinking?" Sokka yelled, grabbing at the sides of his head in frustration. "Where in the world could they have gone?"

"Sokka, calm down! It's not like they're in danger or something!" Suki told him, trying to calm him down. She grabbed his hands and brought them down to his sides and held onto them.

"But…. But they… he's…" Sokka was struggling with his words, not knowing what exactly to say.

"They're a young couple in love. Let them be! They'll come back when they want to come back." Suki thought for a moment. "If you had a giant flying… bear… or something… wouldn't you want to fly me off somewhere to spend alone time with me? Somewhere possibly romantic and away from interruptions, considering if we were to have a lot of interruptions?"

Sokka thought for a moment, and his frustration started fading from his face, then he finally made an attempt to smile at her. "Well, yes actually. That would be nice... but I don't want my sister doing that!"

"Let's go inside. I need a bath, and so do you. You stink." Suki said with a grin.

Sokka looked annoyed at her remark, then his face suddenly became lightened and he grinned happily when she gave him a sensual look with her eyes and winked at him.

He followed her into the palace and then into the large bath room.

Aang and Katara had a lot of time to do some talking that day. And among one of the things talked about was where and when they would have their wedding. Aang mentioned having it at the Southern Water Tribe, but Katara gave him the suggestion of having their wedding high up in the Southern Air Temple. Aang wasn't sure how he liked the idea at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt it would have been an appropriately wonderful idea. Then the argument of when to have the wedding came up. Aang wanted to get married right away. But Katara wanted to wait. She told him it was best to go on their missions first, and then when they finally got married, they would be able to settle down for a while and make their rounds when they were needed. They already had a home in Ba Sing Se, but Aang ultimately wanted their home to be in the Southern Air Temple.

"How about we make _all _of the air temples our homes?" Katara said exaggeratingly with excitement. "Well, besides the Northern one, that one is already taken up."

"We can kick them out." Aang said grinning. They both laughed. Then Aang continued. "It's actually not a bad idea, about the other temples anyway. The Western Air Temple is pretty much cleaned up now, thanks to you and the others. And the Eastern Air Temple is perfectly fine. I think Guru Pathik lives there still, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind the occasional visits from us. We can make them all our homes, and we'll fill them with airbenders!" Aang smiled widely.

"Um… that's a lot of…. Airbenders…" Katara said nervously. Then she gave him an irritated look. "You're not expecting a harem, are you?"

"No way!" Aang said, laughing. "The council members tried to lay that on me at one of the meetings we had, and I told them there was no way I wouldn't do it."

Katara looked at him with surprise. "Oh… really?"

Aang realized that he may have said too much. "Well, yeah. They said they wanted me to so that I could have a ton of children and better my odds of bring more airbenders into the world. But like I said, I told them there was no way I was going to do that."

Katara felt a faint pain in her stomach. She had no idea that possibility was even brought up to him, and by royalties around the world. They wanted to use him to rebuild the airbender race.

She turned her head away from him, feeling slightly annoyed, but for some reason she felt more worried.

"Hey…" Aang said to her, taking her hand. "That's _not _going to happen! I only want to be with you, Katara. No one else. I've told you this plenty of times."

"Is this why you didn't want me drinking the tea? And why you want so many children with me?" She asked him, still looking away from him. "What if I don't want that many children?"

Aang's eyes widened, and he suddenly felt ashamed of himself. "No, that's not how it is! I do want children, I'd love to have lots! But it's not for that reason that you're thinking! Even if you didn't want to have children at all, I would still only want to be with you. There is nothing in the world that can change my mind…"

She finally looked at him again. He put his hand on her cheek tenderly, then closed in on her face and kissed her. She already knew how Aang really felt about her. She just feared that he was trying to put too much on their relationship for the sake of the rest of the world. She knew that even if that was the case, she needed to accept it because of who he was and because she loved him, but she didn't want it to be that way. She didn't want him to feel that way about it either. She began to think again about how it would be different if he was just a normal guy, and not the avatar and not the last airbender, They could have a normal life together, without the demands of the needy world. But it wasn't the case, and he was needed greatly. No matter how much they loved each other, and no matter how much she felt safe with him and trusted him, she knew that those insecurities she felt would still remain, even if just a little.

Their conversation of children didn't continue on that day. It was getting late, and they lay in their bed of blankets, holding each other and kissing each other. And like Aang said, it was difficult for him to hold himself back. His hands wandered her body, making her want him more despite her current pains from the night before. It was harder to control themselves this time than it had before, but Katara knew as well as Aang did that she needed to recover first instead of just make it worse.

So their romance that night remained somewhat innocent, and they fell asleep in each other's arms. They woke with the sun the next morning, and Katara was feeling a whole lot better. They packed up their things and reluctantly flew off on Appa, away from their private little paradise.

When they were nearing the mainland, Aang sighed.

"Sokka's gonna kill me…"


	16. Protective

*** OOOMMMGGG! FINALLY! ANOTHER CHAPTER! I'm very sorry it took me so long. All in a nutshell: LOTS of school work (projects, finals, and final projects like CRAZY!), job (LOTS more to do during the holidays at my job), and boyfriend (besides my 3 1/2 day mini vacation with my boyfriend, I haven't been spending as much time with him actually because of everything else that is going on lol). All of it equals to less time for me, and less time to work on my personal projects (like this story). This quarter of school has ended, finals are over, and next quarter starts in only a week, but I won't have as much work because I will have more general ed classes (instead of VC classes, which are my 'art and desigh' classes that have more work involved). Another reason why I haven't posted in a while is because I needed to do a lot of planning for the story. I planned on having it ended by now, but I decided to continue with it and I needed to come up with more for the story, and it took a bit of time. Hopefully after this, I'll be able to post chapters more frequently.***

"Appa!" Sokka yelled and pointed to the sky.

Suki looked up at where the excited boy was pointing and sure enough, there was Appa. He was heading in the direction of his barn, so Sokka grabbed Suki's hand and made a mad dash for that exact place. The two reached the barn when Appa was just flying down into it. When he landed, Sokka didn't hesitate and he started climbing up to the saddle on Appa's back.

"You know, you have a lot of explaining to…" Sokka cut off short when he reached the top and looked at the empty saddle. At first he had a shocked expression, but it quickly melted into one of annoyance.

Aang held onto the edge of Katara's window as she let go of him and entered into her room. Aang followed in behind her with their things strapped to his back.

"That sure was fun!" Katara said with a bit of enthusiasm.

Aang laughed. "Yeah, but I don't think I can outrun Sokka forever."

Katara laughed too. "He'll get over it. Let's put everything away.

It was only a few minutes later when Aang could hear Sokka running down the hall to his room. Aang chuckled to himself. Wrong room. But of course Katara's room was next. Sokka opened the door without bothering to knock, and he didn't even startled Katara or Aang when he did. Suki and Toph were with him. Aang had a hard time controlling himself and not burst out into laughter at Sokka's expression.

"You… what were you… what have you been… gggghhh…" Sokka stammered with obvious irritation.

Suki giggled. "Welcome back. Did you guys have a nice vacation?" No sooner than Suki finished her question did she see what was around Katara's neck, and she gasped. "Oh my! Katara!" She ran over to Katara and took her hands. "You… you're…"

Toph looked confused and curious over the sudden commotion. "She's what? What's going on?"

"Katara's wearing a betrothal necklace!" Suki said loudly with excitement.

Toph looked even more confused. "A betrothal necklace? What's that?"

"You don't know?" Sokka asked, still sounding irritated. "It's a Water Tribe custom for a girl to wear one made by the man she is engaged to be married to." Sokka paused and sighed loudly." Which means…" He looked over at the young couple.

Toph looked suddenly surprised. "Katara! You're engaged? Which one of the Water Tribe boys proposed to you?"

Aang's eyes widened slightly with shock at Toph's misunderstanding, then he smacked his head with the palm of his hand in frustration. "None of them did, Toph. I did."

Toph gasped loudly this time, her opened mouth raising at the edges to form and huge smile. "Really? You asked Katara to marry you?"

Aang moved closer to Katara and wrapped his arms around her and looked her in her eyes as he answered the question. "Yes, I did." His voce was soft and loving.

Suki squealed in excitement and gave them a group hug, and Toph joined in. Sokka just stood there, still with his annoyed expression lingering on his face.

"Oh come on, Sokka." Suki said as she reached out a hand to him to invite him into the hug.

Sokka ignored her invite. "Where have you two been?" He finally asked.

"On a little mini vacation." Katara answered for him.

"It was a birthday surprise for her." Aang explained. "We were able to get away from everyone and have some long awaited time alone." He grinned at Katara.

"But… you didn't tell anyone about this! You should have said something!" Sokka protested.

"And risk not being able to go because a certain someone would have tried to either stop us or want to go with us? You wouldn't have wanted us to go."

Sokka had a thoughtful expression on his face "Yeah, true. And for a good reason!"

"We should have a celebration!" Suki said excitedly, ignoring the previous moody subject. "A celebration of your engagement!"

"No!" Katara said quickly. "No more parties!"

"Well…" Aang began, keeping an arm around Katara's back as he stood next at her side. "Not now anyway. We have things to do before we can… well, settle down and start making plans." His words had a hint of regret in them. "We're not exactly sure when we're gonna get married."

Married… Aang felt a chill as the word left his lips. Excitement was once again nearly overwhelming him at the thought of being 'married' to the girl of his dreams. And despite his disappointment of what he had just said, a small, warm smile touched him mouth.

"Well, then why not wait to propose? You didn't need to do it so soon if you guys aren't even ready. Technically, Aang, you're not even of marrying age yet." Sokka said.

Aang looked at Sokka, slightly annoyed. "I know more than anything that I want to spend my life with Katara, and I want the whole world to know my love for her by her wearing my betrothal necklace. And if we're gonna get into technicalities, then technically my 16th birthday was 99 years ago."

Sokka stared at him, his eyebrows furrowed and wearing a still irritated look. He opened his mouth suddenly for another come back, left it hanging for a moment, but then just closed it. He was clearly defeated.

"Sokka…" Katara said. "What's the problem? You seem like you're against us being together or something."

Sokka seemed a little shocked by his sister's statement. He averted his eyes. "I'm not against it, really. I just… I dunno, I just feel protective of my little sister. Aang is my friend, my best friend actually, but I guess I can't help but to feel worried that you'll get hurt or something."

"Sokka, you know I would _never _hurt Katara!" Aang said with a heartfelt tone.

"Not purposely." Sokka replied calmly.

Aang's eyes went wide at his friend's comment and felt a quick sharp pain in his chest. He suddenly felt very weak for some reason. Sokka looked back up at Aang and forced himself to smile. "But I already told you, didn't I? That you have my approval. So don't worry. Just…" Sokka closed his eyes for a moment, took in a deep breath and let it go, then his eyes opened and he looked aggressively at Aang. "You better watch what you do to my sister before you're married!" Sokka's aggressive expression stayed on his face as he shot Aang his best threatening look.

Katara's face went red, and Suki looked over at her and noticed it right away. After a short moment, Katara held up her hand over her mouth to hide her grin and tried very hard to not laugh at Sokka.

Sokka's glace quickly went to Katara. "And what's so funny?"

Before Katara could make a smart remark back to her brother, Zuko walked in.

"So, you two decided to come back, huh?" Zuko said, looking at Aang.

"Yeah, although we almost decided to just stay where we were. It was quite nice and relaxing." Aang replied.

"Where did you guys go?" Zuko asked.

Aang grinned slyly. "It's a secret.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we have to get going with our plans here within the next couple of days. And we also have a prisoner that still needs seeing to."

Everyone's faces suddenly became serious. Katara had been so caught up in the amazing things that had been going on the past couple of days with Aang that she had completely forgot about Jet. "That's right…" Katara said with a concerned voice. Aand looked at her and saw there was distress in her expression. She looked up at Zuko. "Let's get this done with then. Please take me to him."

"No!" Aang said suddenly. "You aren't going anywhere _near _him!" Aang's face was full of anger, then he looked at Zuko. "I'll handle this." His voice had a deathly tone to it that made everyone in the room shudder at least a little bit.

Zuko nodded, then he turned to leave and Aang followed him out. Katara attempted to follow too.

"Well I'm going with you!"

"No Katara! I will deal with it!" Aang shot at her.

"This happened to _me_! So I…"

"That's exactly why!" Aang cut her off. "Any guy that tries to hurt you or… do things to you… it's my business to deal with it! Don't you understand that?"

Katara began to look upset with him and she was about to tell him off, but she decided against it when Aang's expression loosened up and he began to look sad.

"Please, just… don't come." He said softly. "Just the thought of you being in his presence just… makes me angry…" He averted his eyes.

Katara stood there for a moment, not saying anything. She realized what Aang was feeling now. He was completely territorial over her. She sighed. "Fine."

Aang looked up at her, still looking sad. He hesitated for a moment, then he took her hand in his. Katara wasn't sure what to think or do then, so she looked up at him, then she slipped her hand out of his and turned to walk away.

"Katara!" He grabbed her wrist quickly.

"It's fine." She said, not turning to look at him. "I'll be in my room."

Aang's grip loosened and she walked away. He watched her walk back into her room, her brother and the rest waiting in there for her, then he turned and walked to Zuko who was waiting a little ways down the hall for him.

"Don't worry, she understands." Zuko said when Aang finally caught up. "In fact... I think you may have just made her happy."

Aang snorted. "Come on, Zuko, don't joke."

"I'm not actually. You're completely protective over her and very territorial of her. If she hadn't seen that before, then she realizes it now. It shows her that much more how much you love her. I think girls like that."

"Are you like that with Mai?" Aang asked.

Zuko blushed a little and seemed a bit surprised by Aang's sudden inquiry. "Well… I guess, maybe. Actually I think she is more that way with me. She clings to me at meetings and social gatherings, and I think she does that to let people know that I'm not an available man."

"Do you like her doing that?" Aang asked.

"Well… I prefer it so that I don't get the nagging of desperate fathers with single daughters…" Zuko replied.

Aang gave Zuko a look that indicated he knew Zuko had more to it than that. Zuko caught his look and looked away quickly. "Yeah I guess I kinda like it a bit…" Zuko said blushing.

Suki ushered Sokka out of Katara's room, saying that she needed to have girl talk with his sister. Toph hesitantly decided to stay behind for the chat. When he was gone, Suki turned to Katara and just stared at her with a big smile on her face. Katara began to feel a bit uncomfortable about the situation suddenly. There was a moment of silence between the girls, but Toph finally spoke up.

"Well…?" She said, waiting for someone to say something.

"Well…?" Suki said, directing the intended question to Katara.

"What?" Katara asked in a snappy tone.

"Did you drink your tea, dear?" Suki asked with a sly grin.

Katara's jaw dropped and her face went red. She already knew this was going to come up with Suki, but she was not prepared to talk about it with anyone. "That's... we…" Katara was having a hard time trying to figure out what to say.

"Tea?" Toph asked, confused.

"This isn't something I really want to talk about, guys." Katara said, trying to sound calm.

"Oh, I wanna know what happened!" Suki said excitedly.

"Hah! I don't!" Toph said, turning to the door. "This subject isn't for me, sorry." And with that, Toph left.

The girls watched her leave, then Suki turned back to Katara. "Well…. Did you?" Suki asked her.

Katara looked away from her and kept on blushing. She knew it was completely obvious now what the answer was, but she didn't want to just come right out and say it and then talk about it. Although Suki was one of her best friends, it was still a private subject that she didn't feel right talking about.

"Ok, you don't need to give me any details, just…. Tell me, how was it? Did you… you know… like it?"

Katara's eyes continued to avoid Suki's, and eventually a small smile appeared on her lips. "Yeah…" Katara said, her answer making her smile a little more and blush more.

Suki made a gasp with a big smile on her face and made a small squeal of excitement.

"But please, I don't want to talk about it because... well, it's still a new thing to me and… it's between me and Aang…"

Suki smiled sweetly at her friend. "So, wanna know where to get more of those herbs I gave you?

The dungeon that Aang and Zuko were headed to was in the basement under the palace. It wasn't all that bad down there, it was cleaner than Aang had thought it would be. It only held prisoners down there who were awaiting judgment.

The two came up to the cell that Jet was in. He was sitting on a chair and staring at the wall. He saw them approach out of the corner of his eye, then he grunted.

"So what, am I gonna get the death penalty for touching the Avatar's girlfriend or something?"

"What you did was a punishable crime, no matter who the person is." Aang said in a stern voice. "I thought you were our friend, Jet! How could you do something like that?" Aang yelled at him in anger.

Jet grunted again, then looked up at Aang. "I didn't plan to go so far." Jet said coolly. "It happened on a whim. I was trying to talk to her, and she wouldn't listen…"

"So you forced yourself on her because she didn't want you back?" Aang clenched his fists as he was filled with rage. His tattoos began to glow, but Zuko placed his hand on Aang's shoulder and after a moment, he calmed down enough to stop glowing. "This doesn't have to do with the fact that she's the Avatar's girlfriend, but the fact that you did something like this to her, you…"

"I love her!" Jet yelled out at Aang, jumping up from the chair and facing him from the other side of the cell bars. "I love her and I can't just sit back while she waists her life on someone like you! You can't make her happy! You can't give her the life she wants! You're the Avatar! Everyone is going to regard you higher than a king; you will be followed as a celebrity! She'll soon lose her trust in you. You'll be traveling around, helping others and dedicating your life to others instead of her! How can you do that to someone you supposedly love?"

Aang's anger lessened in his expression, but he was actually angrier from Jet's words. "I'm not leaving her behind. She's going with me! How dare you say that _you _love her! You did something so… just so unforgivable! You have no right to say you love her! You don't force someone you love into doing something they don't want! That's not love!"

"You're doing the same thing!" Jet snapped back, walking up closer to the bars of his cell and gripping them tight in his hands. "She doesn't want to go with you, but she is going because you want her to…"

"That's nowhere _near _the same!" Aang cut him off. "I'm not forcing her to come with me! I asked her to. And don't pretend like you know her and the things she wants! I told her I wouldn't go…" Aang paused for a short moment to calm himself down, and Jet just stared at him with anger. "I told her I would drop all my duties as the Avatar to be with her if it was what she wanted of me."

Jet snorted. "I'm assuming she told you not to do that since she's so nice."

"She's understanding. And you're just a scumbag that uses force to try and get the things you want. You'll never have Katara."

Jet was still staring at him with anger, but he calmed his fury a bit and averted his eyes. "I never meant to hurt her. It's true, I want her for myself. I thought I could persuade her to dump her Avatar boyfriend and convince her that her life would be easier and better with me."

Aang kept his grin hidden. "Katara isn't my girlfriend anymore."

Jet looked back at him quickly with surprise and confusion. Even Zuko looked over at him with a bit of confusion.

"She's my fiancé."

Jet's expression showed his obvious surprise. Then he let go of the bars of his prison and turned the other way.

"I plan to do my part in helping to bring peace to the nations, and Katara knows that and wants to be by my side. But I don't plan on dedicating my life to it. I fully plan on dedicating my life to Katara."

Aang stood there after his short, final speech. Jet didn't turn to face him again. Aang finally turned to leave, but Zuko stopped him.

"What are we gonna do with him then?" Zuko asked him.

Aang thought for a moment, then he let out a sigh. "Just let him go."

Zuko protested. "What? But… are you sure about that?"

"He's not going to do this again.I believe him when he said it wasn't his true intentions. I don't think he's a evil person, he was just desperate." Aang turned to look at Jet, and Jet was now turned and looking back at him.

"Besides…" Aang continued, a smile creeping up on his face. "Katara's not gonna be sleeping alone anymore."

*** Yay Aang is still alive! Sokka didn't kill him. Yay. Stay tuned for the next chater! Oh and BTW I can't really give you an update on the comic I'm drawing for this story because... well, as stated earlier, I haven't had a whole lot of free time, so I haven't done much with it yet. But I will let you guys know in the next chapter how it's coming along.***


	17. Sleeping Arrangements

***I'm so stoked about this fan comic I'm doing for this story! It's gonna take a while, you know... cause I have to draw it and stuff, but I have about half of the first chapter done and it looks fantastic so far! Keep in mind when you guys see it, I'm not used to drawing 'backgrounds' and stuff like that. I'm better at drawing people than I am at drawing the backgrounds and surroundings. But I'm trying my best and this is a great learning experience for me... ANYway, thanks for reading, and here's the next chapter! This is the last chapter of them being in the Firelord's palace... for now.

"Aang, I really don't think this is necessary." Sokka said as Aang walked past him carrying more of Katara's stuff out of her room. "We're leaving the day after tomorrow."

"I don't care." Aang replied blatantly.

Sokka slapped the palm of his hand over his face in frustration. "My dad isn't gonna like this you know!" He called after Aang who was walking down the hall to his own room with Katara's stuff.

"Then don't tell him!" Aang called back.

By the time Aang had gotten back to Katara's room earlier after his visit to the palace dungeon, Katara was gone and out with Suki. Sokka told him when to expect them back, then he yelled at Aang for letting Jet go. Aang explained to Sokka what happened with his conversation and explained his reasoning to let him go, but Aang withheld the details of his growing anxiety of the realization that Jet gave him. She had traveled all over with Aang on a long journey and they had many adventures. She did, after all, seem to love adventure. He just assumed that this new journey they were going on wouldn't be very much different, but did she really want to go? Is this all not too much for her? Choosing his Avatar duties over Katara was absolutely out of the question. He would choose her in a heartbeat. But would she let him do that? Would they really encounter these hardships that Jet forewarned? And if they did, would it drive Katara away from him?

Aang had brought the rest of Katara's thing into his room and put them away in empty drawers. He sat on his bed, and Sokka, who had been just following him back and forth, not even helping because he was obviously against it, sat down next to him.

There was silence for a little while, both of them were deep in thought, then Aang sighed. "I still can't believe this is all happening."

"What?" Sokka asked, turning his head to look at him.

"Marriage..." Aang said, still looking like he was deep in thought.

"Um, Aang, you better not be thinking about backing out of it already!" Sokka threatened him.

Aang snapped out of his daze quickly and looked at Sokka. "What? No way! Never! I love her so much, and I really, really want this, more than anything! I just... I can't believe it's actually happening." Aang looked back at the floor below him. Sokka just watched him with understanding eyes, then looked at the floor too. After a moment, a thought came to Sokka that made him laugh just a little.

"We're gonna be like one big family." Sokka said.

Aang smiled. "Yeah, you're right. You're like my best friend, and soon you'll be my brother in law. Katara and Suki are like the best of friends too, and they'll be sister in laws." Aang laughed a little. "When you guys first found me, I was basically all alone in the world. My people were gone, my friends, everyone I knew… well except King Bumi, but… you and Katara became like a family to me. And soon, you guys really will be my family."

Sokka smiled. He was touched by Aang's words. But then Sokka's eyes went wide suddenly. "What if..." He said, hesitating. Aang looked over at him and saw the worried expression on his face, and it made him worry a little too.

"What if what?" Aang asked a bit anxiously.

Sokka slowly turned his head and looked at Aang. "What if they tell us they want a joined wedding?"

Aang's eyes went wide too. "No way! Not happening, I want my own wedding!"

"Me too. But sometimes girls can be weird and come up with those kinds of dumb ideas." Sokka said.

The girls came back a little while later, and Katara was surprised to see her room was emptied of her stuff. She found Aang and Sokka in Aang's room, no doubt talking about boy stuff she thought to herself. Aang explained to her their new sleeping arrangements and told her about what happened with Jet. Aang wasn't surprised to see that Katara was much more understanding of his decision than Sokka was. And of course Suki brought up the idea of having a joined wedding with Katara.

"No!" Aang and Sokka said at the same time.

Katara giggled a little at their reactions. "I kinda agree with them. Your wedding day is supposed to be a special day. A day for just you and Sokka."

"Yeah that's true I guess." Suki said with a playful grin.

"I got a message earlier from my parents." Toph announced. "They apparently approved of Haru, and now I'm to be married on my 16th birthday."

"Wow, congrats Toph!" Katara said.

Everyone there made their congrats to Toph, but Haru was sit not present. Toph told them that he planned to meet with them a few days after their departure.

"It's so strange, we are all getting married." Katara said.

"Hey, I'm not getting married yet." Zuko said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well then propose already!" Sokka told Zuko excitedly, throwing his hands in the air.

"I will when the time is right." Zuko replied coolly.

"You mean... You will when you suck up the courage to?" Katara asked.

Everyone laughed while Zuko blushed in embarrassment.

After dinner, they all talked about the plans for the upcoming days ahead. Everyone was there, including Katara and Sokka's father and his fleet. Iroh was there and Mai as well.

"Katara and I are gonna fly Iroh back to Ba Sing Se, then we'll meet you guys here the next day." Aang said, pointing to a city on the map. "Appa is faster than your ships, it won't take us as long to get there, so we'll just stay the night in Ba Sing Se."

"Oh yeah, don't we have a house there?" Sokka asked.

"Well, hopefully we still do." Aang replied.

"If anything, you two can stay the night at my place." Iroh informed them with a hearty smile.

"Yeah, why don't you just stay at Iroh's place." Sokka said, giving Katara a look. She knew exactly what he was getting at. Katara looked over at her father. Hakoda hadn't heard this part of the conversation; he was talking with the other men at the table and Zuko, going over plans and indicating check points along their routes. She almost moved her hand up to touch the pendant at her neck, but remembered before she did so that it wasn't there at the moment. Aang had it with him. Only Sokka, Suki, Toph and Zuko knew about their engagement so far, and they wanted to keep quiet about it for now, until the other people in the building were gone, save for Iroh, Mai and Hakoda.

The time past on slowly, and Aang was having a hard time controlling his eagerness. There were a couple of things happening that night that he was anxiously waiting for to happen: announcing to Hakoda that he was now engaged to his daughter, and then…. going to bed with that very daughter of his… but of course he wasn't gonna know about that part.

When people began to leave, Hakoda got up to leave with his men, but Sokka stopped him. "Hey dad, we need to talk to you about something."

Hakoda nodded to his men, and they left without him. There was no one else there now besides the group that already knew and the small group that they wanted to know. Everyone looked at Sokka, waiting for him to say something. "Well, actually…" He looked over at Aang. "It's not something for me to say."

Hakoda, a bit confused, looked over at Aang. And when he did, he suddenly knew.

Aang was suddenly very shy and he blushed. Everyone looked at him, and he wasn't sure what to say. "Um… well…" He rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the table in front of him.

Hakoda smiled warmly. "Well Aang, do you have something to say?" He asked the Avatar, not the slightest suspicion in his voice. Katara was feeling anxious with her father's inquiry and she blushed a little bit too.

Aang's nervousness was rising and he wished then that there was no one in the room. But this was what he was waiting for. He was so excited about announcing this important part of his life to his friends, and especially to the father of his beloved Katara, and it felt suddenly like his life depended on it. He fought hard to control the anxiety and not jump straight out of his chair… but he did exactly that anyway.

He suddenly jumped up out of his chair and stood up straight and faced his friends. Toph was grinning wide underneath her shield of hair over her face. "What it is Twinkletoes? Spit it out already!"

Aang flinched at Toph's demand, and he did just as commanded. "Katara and I are getting married!"

There weren't a whole lot of surprised sounds to be heard in the room. Almost everyone knew already, but there was a different kind of feeling in the room. At least to Aang there was. His friends were there before him, and there was love and happiness radiating in the room for the newly engaged couple.

"Way to go Aang." Zuko said warmly to his friend. Iroh, who sat next to his nephew Zuko, was smiling widely and on the verge of tears with his complex expression of happiness that looked almost sad, like his little boy was all grown up and getting married. It seemed quite exaggerated to those who caught a glimpse of him, but Iroh was just like that.

Hakoda walked to Aang's side and he put his hand on his shoulder. The smile he gave Aang was so warm and loving that it struck hard in Aang's heart and made him want to cry. "Congratulations, son." He brought his other hand up and instigated a hand shake. Aang took the man's hand in his to receive the blessing, but he was instead pulled into a hard hug. Katara watched with tears brimming her eyes, and then her father pulled away from Aang and came to her. He took her hand, raised her from her chair and brought her into a hug as well. Hakoda held his daughter tight and said to her. "He's a fine man for you Katara. I'm very happy for you." He pulled away, placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into the face of his weeping, happy daughter. After another moment, he turned to Aang, and Aang pulled his betrothal necklace from out of his pocket. "I know I already told you this, but… Aang, you are more than welcome to have Katara's hand in marriage."

Katara looked slightly surprised, and she looked at Aang, and he smiled and winked at her. He walked up to his fiancé and placed the necklace back around her neck. Their friends, their family, all cheered for them as Aang finished binding the betrothal necklace around her neck and then embraced her.

Katara was filled with so much happiness that evening. It wasn't too long ago that she was on the side, watching her friends give congrats and blessings to her brother and Suki for their engagement. She had envied them their happiness and didn't think that she would be able to have her chance at experiencing that same happiness any time soon. But there she was, with Aang by her side and his hand in hers, receiving the blessings of their family and friends for their engagement.

Aang turned to Hakoda. "Sir, may I…?" Aang asked him. Hakoda looked at Aang who made a gesture in Katara's direction, and for some reason he knew what he meant. He only pretended to think for a moment, then smiled. "Yes, you may."

Katara was brought back out of her dreamy state by Aang pulling her in and planting his lips onto hers. Everyone in the room made an "Oooo" noise or cheered. Katara blushed furiously out of embarrassment, but eventually she hesitantly returned the kiss. Aang held her there in his arms, his lips securely on hers, and for just a moment, everyone in the room just drowned out, like no one was there to see his affection for Katara put on display. And when he very slowly pulled his lips away from hers, the realization of everyone else in the room came back, and his cheeks tinted with red, but he didn't take his eyes away from hers. Then he smiled warmly to his love.

It was a little while later when some of the people in the room decided they were getting sleepy and wanted to go to bed. Sokka, Suki, Katara and Aang all left at the same time. And they headed to Aang's room first.

"How about we all sleep in the same room!" Sokka suggested excitedly.

"Or… how about not!" Aang replied irritably.

"Well, if our sleeping arrangements are gonna be like this…" Katara said, keeping her voice down so they couldn't be heard. "We kinda have to keep this on the down low… especially around dad."

"Yeah…" Sokka said softly, keeping his voice down too. "It would be pretty bad if he found out."

"What are you all doing out here in the hall?" A voice asked from behind the group. Everyone turned quickly, and of all people, of course it was Hakoda.

"We uh... nothing! We're just talking!" Sokka said a little too eagerly. "What are you doing out in the hall… here…?

"Well I went to Katara's room to say goodnight to her, but she wasn't there. In fact… it looked like the room was completely empty, like none of your stuff was there." He said, looking at his daughter.

_Oh… no… _Aang thought to himself.

"Actually…" Suki started. "We decided to move her to someone else's room so she wouldn't have to sleep alone. You know, because of what happened the other night." Everyone's jaws dropped at the statement Suki just made.

Suki continued. "Katara and I are gonna be taking Aang's room for the next couple of nights before we leave, and Aang is sleeping in Sokka's room with him. I'm a heavily trained warrior, so she'll be safe a secure with me." She then smiled sweetly.

Hakoda just stared at her for a moment, then smiled. "Oh well that's good." He said without the slightest bit of suspicion. "Thank you, Suki."

Aang wasn't sure which feeling he had was greater. Relief of not getting caught, or disappointment that he was now not going to be sleeping with his lover for the next couple of nights.

"Yeah we were just saying goodnight to our ladies, right Aang?" Sokka said.

"Uh, yeah." Aang replied reluctantly. "Goodnight Katara!"

"Goodnight Aang..." Katara said with disappointment.

The boys turned and went down the hall to Sokka's room.

"Man, this sucks!" Sokka said as soon as he closed the door behind them.

"Yeah I know… at least you get to sleep in a bed though!" Aang said irritably.

Sokka shrugged "If you really want to, you could..."

"No!" Aang cut him off. "I'm not sleeping in your bed, that's…." Aang made a disgusted face. "We don't know how often the maids actually switch out the sheets and wash them…"

Sokka thought for a moment, then looked disturbed. " Suki is probably gonna sleep in your bed with Katara!"

"So?"

"So? When was the last time you... had _your_ sheets washed?"

"Sokka, if you're implying what I think you're implying, then you don't have to worry, Katara and I haven't done anything in my bed..."

Sokka sighed. "Oh good, that's.." Sokka paused, then looked at Aang. "But... you have... somewhere else?"

"I didn't say that." Aang said with a mischievous grin.

"You know, you're lucky that you're my best friend and that I like you so much."

The next couple of days went by without event. They went over their plans again and did their last minute things that needed to be done and looked over. Zuko set up the palace guard formations and schedules and made sure everyone he had at the palace could be trusted, with Toph's help of course. It was a very long process. Iroh packed his things and readied himself for his trip home. He and the rest of the White Lotus members would be stationing themselves in Ba Sing Se to help the Earth King keep contrl and peace in order. Aang and Katara would fly Iroh to Ba Sing Se and it was decided they would be there for two nights instead of one. Plans were shifted slightly and they wouldn't be meeting until a day later than planned. This made Aang incredibly happy. He and Katara were to meet Zuko and the rest if the gang in a neighboring city outside of Ba Sing Se where a fairly large rebel base was said to be hiding out.

The morning finally came. Katara was all ready to go, she was just waiting on everyone else. She was so excited about leaving, but at the same time, she felt a bit melancholy. She decided to take a walk out in the palace's inner garden. She took her time, slowly making her way past the trees and flower bushes, passing a tree where she and Aang shared an extremely passionate moment the day they found out Maiya wasn't an airbender. A smile played about her face as she remembered it. It was the first time Aang had verbally admitted his sexual desire for her. She felt an exciting chill over her body at the memory of how she felt that day. And then her footsteps eventually brought her to a pond in the central area of the garden. She stood herself in the very spot she was in when Aang had finally come back to her after being away for six painfully long months. It was that moment that he first told her he loved her, and they shared a perfect romantic kiss.

Katara brought her hands up to her arms and lightly hugged herself and closed her eyes. So much had happened, none of which she had anticipated. It seemed like it wasn't long ago when she was crying in secrecy over how much she missed Aang and over how troubled she was with not knowing what to expect of her relationship with him. But he came back, and he proposed love to her, then proposed marriage to her. Though she was so happy as she reminisced over the recent events, she couldn't help furrow her eye brows and let a few tears fall down her cheeks. It wasn't out of sadness though, it was from total blissfulness.

Her name was called from a distance. Aang's voice. It must be time to go, she thought to herself. She took in a deep breath and then slowly let it out, and then she turned and made her way to where the voice was calling her from.

"Katara! What's wrong?" Aang asked her in worry when he saw the tear stains on her cheeks and her unusual expression.

"Nothing's wrong." She replied. He gave her a questioning look, like he didn't believe her and she was hiding something. But his doubt was suddenly drained away by the wondrous look on her face as she met his eyes and smiled her most beautiful smile at him. "Nothing is wrong at all." She continued. "Everything is perfect."

***Oh Kaaaaaaaaay! New adventures ahead, story may go on for a while... wow this is gonna be a very long fan comic! Well actually, it's more like a 'doujinshi'. It's gonna be in manga style, with screen tones and everything. I'm using both Photoshop CS5 and Manga Studio EX 4 for the doujinshi (fan comic). K so please leave reviews and let me know what you think! Send me private messages if you feel you need to. The story is mostly planned out but I'm open to suggestions and ideas from your creative minds!***


	18. Announcement

I started this story, like, a LONG time ago. I tried to continue it and make it longer, but after the part that I had originally planned to stop at, I made only one more chapter. Life got in the way of my creating things- school, work, people… mostly school though. So now, after so long, I have taken down that last chapter and declaring this story finished. I'm sorry to disappoint you all. But I will tell you this: I'm going to start writing again. In fact, I've already started another story, but it is a one-shot. Maybe doing some one-shots is better for me for now. But my new story I'm writing is not about Aang and Katara, it's about Korra and Mako.

The series premiere is April 14th, but I have already seen the first 2 episodes, just like a lot of you other Avatar fans, and I've seen everything there is to b seen about The Legend of Korra online. I'm so super stoked for this series. As much as I was in love with the story of Aang and Katara, I already like Korra and Mako more. I think this cannon was to make up for all those disappointed Zutara fans, and I must say I'm so impressed with the story development that I have seen already. I've watched all the trailers and commercials so much that I'm already putting scenes together and putting together what my belief of the future plot is going to be.

As for this one-shot I'm making- It's not going to be based off of what I think is going to happen. Oh, no. Because I don't think that my imagination is anywhere near appropriate for a Nickelodeon TV show lol.

Thank you all for your support and compliments you have given me on this story. And again, I'm sorry for the lack of commitment I desperately wanted to give it. Look for my new story coming soon. And after this one, as I get further into the story after it actually starts airing, I'll probably make more fan fiction.


	19. Announcement 2

I realized that I deleted that last chapter and put up a new one and it is now considered #18, and you want to comment on my 'announcement' but already commented on that last chapter, I put this one up If you wanna do so.

Sooooo…. If you have anything you wanna say, you can do so here =)


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